4 ms·
>Forty years later, we must admit he was prescient. Every word he said still rings true. Very few celebrated forward thinkers were as right as RMS. Yet, we don’
by pydry 3y ago
>Forty years later, we must admit he was prescient. Every word he said still rings true. Very few celebrated forward thinkers were as right as RMS. Yet, we don’t like his message. We don’t like how he tells it. We don’t like him. As politicians understood quickly, we care more about appearance and feel-good communication than about the truth or addressing the root cause.
Elites understand that while their boasts of being good people fall on deaf ears for all but their most ardent supporters, the cynicism of the public can reliably be weaponized via a concerted campaign of character assassination.
It works against even the most blameless individuals. No guilt needs to actually be established either - a feeling that there is something "off" about the individual can be manufactured simply by throwing enough mud, consistently enough.
If the mud doesnt stick to the individual, you can also throw mud at the supporters.
It's all over this thread.
- mandmandam 3y agoYou're absolutely right. We saw it with Bernie, with Marianne, with environmental activists, with OWS; with Iraq protesters, with Vietnam protesters, with BLM, with Chomsky, with basically any anti-war media of any kind. It's really getting quite tiresome to hear people talk shit about RMS, while tech giants continue to harvest our souls and strip-mine our future for ad money.
- Applejinx 3y ago…at which point the 'Open Source' side of things is unharmed, because they've practiced the realpolitik of giving away their power to giant corporate entities that care nothing for principle but will fight for their interests, against others like them. The interest is not in freedom. Their interests are in protecting their continued ability to plunder the commons. That's a perfectly real interest, so there's nothing fair about it but it's a line of defense. I know I'm interested in seeing what happens there. The essay sounds like it's claiming RMS-ness is still declining, and that this is a bad thing. I don't know whether Open Source-ness is keeping a space open for RMS-ness or starving it out, but I do know something's gotta be there, even if it means giving away power to force the corporate monsters to have a vested interest in a commons. They will steal everything anyway, including anything Richard has, so it's more about how well you can facilitate people sharing who want to share.
- brookst 3y agoAre you saying RMS is not actually an egotistical jerk, or that we should pretend he isn't because you think people would say mean things even if he weren't?
- esarbe 3y agoIf you knew RMS you'd know that he's a very kind human being. Your words - in my opinion - just expose that you don't know the man at all.
- esarbe 3y agohttps://whoisylvia.medium.com/richard-stallman-has-been-vilified-by-those-who-dont-know-him-a3907b25b4c7 https://whoisylvia.medium.com/richard-stallman-has-been-vili...
- pydry 3y agoI've never met him so I can't judge what he's really like. I do know though that, since his views threaten profits, if he were the nicest person in the world he'd still be the victim of smear campaigns. And those smear campaigns would work. They always do.