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Some folks miss the point. We only make fun of Stallman in an attempt to change his behaviour in a way that benefits both him and others. For instance, rms smel
by hugh3 15y ago
Some folks miss the point. We only make fun of Stallman in an attempt to change his behaviour in a way that benefits both him and others. For instance, rms smells bad. If he could be persuaded to smell less bad, then everybody would benefit.
Ridicule is a valuable social mechanism for giving negative feedback to those who behave inappropriately. For those who say "but can't we give this feedback in a non-hurtful way?", the answer is no, for the same reason that your brain can't make pain non-painful -- some people are too damn stubborn to listen to non-painful feedback.
Here is a video of Richard Stallman, in the middle of a talk, eating something he's just picked off his foot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25UeVXrEHQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25UeVXrEHQ
- raganwald 15y agoYour argument reminds me—painfully—of arguments in favour of physical bullying. “Hey, a few clouts to the head and he’ll get the idea.” I don’t hit my children, no matter how stubborn they are.
- terrywilcox 15y agoStraw man. Edit: I'm not saying that the original argument is correct, as it really isn't, but your response was a straw man.
- hugh3 15y agoIndeed. My original comment may have been somewhat over the top, but I would still argue that yes, a bit of ridicule can sometimes do someone good. That's a very long way from saying anything about violence.
- meric 15y agoYou are trying to use "a bit of ridicule" to change rms's personal habits, then saying "That's a very long way from saying anything about violence". I fail to see how this contributes to anything.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- majmun 15y agoThis is fact of nature, Stallman eating from his foot was not considered good behaviour in group and signals were sent to correct it. wich may or may not be understood by recipient. (it may come too late and on wrong medium) Nature knows also cases when minority is right in that case minority can send more powerfull signal than group.