5 ms·

https://dev.to/baweaver/the-myth-of-the-autistic-jerk-3kjl https://dev.to/baweaver/the-myth-of-the-autistic-jerk-3kjl

smoldesu 6y ago
I agree with a lot of the stuff being said here, but it's entirely tangential to what I talked about. Our "cancel culture" is more focused on zooming-in on the minutia than the big-picture. I love my autistic friends, and never once would I describe their behavior as mean-spirited or "jerk-like". I treat them with patient respect, and they reciprocate the sentiment. I personally know that 2 of those 3 friends love RMS (haven't asked the third :p), and I fail to see what harm he can cause by rejoining the board. Stallman envisioned a free world, where people can communicate openly and without censorship. When people try to silence him, they're only showing how little they understand his goals. You can love him, you can hate him, but you can never stop him. I personally disagree with many of his opinions, but I fully support him coming back to the FSF. Richard Stallman embodies freedom, so he belongs there, regardless of his political or personal opinions.
- Arnt 6y ago
  It's not a matter of his political or personal opinions, it's about behaviour. It's about whether the FSF wants to be welcoming to either people who behave like rms or women. rms, if you by any chance read this: you're supposed to make the ladies laugh. If you talk to women (and talk only, leering is verboten), and make smile and laugh, sometimes a brassiere comes off and noone is unhappy afterwards.
- sascha_sl 6y ago
  You should read the accounts of the few people that spoke up about working for or with the FSF despite their overreaching NDA. They have nothing good to say about Stallman as a leader. His reputation alone makes him ineffective as a person to rally behind for a lot of people, despite the fact they contribute to FOSS and share more of the ideals of the free software movement than the open source movement. You can stop Stallman, and you should, lest his ideals and the FSF drop further into irrelevance.
jeswin 6y ago
"If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism." - Dr. Stephen Shore
Corazoor 6y ago
The article misses the point the grand parent is making: People with autism lack (to varying degree) the ability to decode social clues and - based on that - behave in socially agreeable ways. Since the other side (non-autists) can usually not distinguish between disregarding social norms on purpose (being a jerk) or by accident (autism), autists are often judged as jerks. Escpecially since the high frequency of "social fuckups" rules out "normal" human mistakes.

I agree with a lot of the stuff being said here, but it's entirely tangential to what I talked about. Our "cancel culture" is more focused on zooming-in on the minutia than the big-picture. I love my autistic friends, and never once would I describe their behavior as mean-spirited or "jerk-like". I treat them with patient respect, and they reciprocate the sentiment. I personally know that 2 of those 3 friends love RMS (haven't asked the third :p), and I fail to see what harm he can cause by rejoining the board. Stallman envisioned a free world, where people can communicate openly and without censorship. When people try to silence him, they're only showing how little they understand his goals. You can love him, you can hate him, but you can never stop him. I personally disagree with many of his opinions, but I fully support him coming back to the FSF. Richard Stallman embodies freedom, so he belongs there, regardless of his political or personal opinions.

Arnt 6y ago
It's not a matter of his political or personal opinions, it's about behaviour. It's about whether the FSF wants to be welcoming to either people who behave like rms or women. rms, if you by any chance read this: you're supposed to make the ladies laugh. If you talk to women (and talk only, leering is verboten), and make smile and laugh, sometimes a brassiere comes off and noone is unhappy afterwards.
sascha_sl 6y ago
You should read the accounts of the few people that spoke up about working for or with the FSF despite their overreaching NDA. They have nothing good to say about Stallman as a leader. His reputation alone makes him ineffective as a person to rally behind for a lot of people, despite the fact they contribute to FOSS and share more of the ideals of the free software movement than the open source movement. You can stop Stallman, and you should, lest his ideals and the FSF drop further into irrelevance.

jeswin 6y ago

"If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism." - Dr. Stephen Shore

Corazoor 6y ago

The article misses the point the grand parent is making: People with autism lack (to varying degree) the ability to decode social clues and - based on that - behave in socially agreeable ways. Since the other side (non-autists) can usually not distinguish between disregarding social norms on purpose (being a jerk) or by accident (autism), autists are often judged as jerks. Escpecially since the high frequency of "social fuckups" rules out "normal" human mistakes.