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There's a place for talking about the viability of FOSS firmware for headphones and similar devices, but I'm sure we can both agree that on an airplane ride (om

There's a place for talking about the viability of FOSS firmware for headphones and similar devices, but I'm sure we can both agree that on an airplane ride (omitted from parent response, but that's when it happened) is not the right time. The problem imo isn't the argument, it's where and when it was presented. Most people on airplanes are, at least in my experience: half-tired, somewhat sleepy and vaguely annoyed due to all the annoyances and frustrations with getting through customs. Few people want to be subjected to angry rants at that point. RMS should at least have recognized that[0] this is the sort of rant that is best put on his website after the ride rather than at the person who just was wearing some headphones[1]. With RMS having placed himself as the de facto speaker for the FSF, this is an extremely bad look for them once this story got out and by extension Free Software as a whole[2] (and why, imo, he should've been moved to some sort of "guru" position long ago instead of being the public speaker). [0]: Yes, I realize he's probably autistic. The counter I have to that is that autism isn't an excuse. It's an explanation and RMS has habitually rejected any attempts to understand that his behavior may be regarded as extremely rude according to everyone who has worked with him, which is why I still consider this to be a detriment to him as a person. Almost every autistic person I know is miles more understanding than RMS is in that their behavior might sometimes come across in ways they didn't intent to. RMS is full head-in-the-sand-I'm-always-right on this sort of thing whenever he's confronted. [1]: Which probably would have made it a more useful argument too, since more people would've been aware of it as opposed to severely irritating a random individual on an airplane. [2]: Not to dismiss the merits of FOSS on that, of course. There's plenty of other organizations that I would consider more useful advocates such as the FSFe and the SFC.

jfengel 3y ago
An autistic person may have difficulty reading social cues, but it's hard to imagine a clearer social cue than "this person is wearing a device for the express purpose of not listening to things".
CaptainFever 3y ago
> Yes, I realize he's probably autistic. The counter I have to that is that autism isn't an excuse. It's an explanation It’s a disability. > Almost every autistic person I know is miles more understanding than RMS is in that their behavior might sometimes come across in ways they didn't intent to. It’s also a spectrum. Something that might be easy for an autistic person might be hard for another. That said… > and RMS has habitually rejected any attempts to understand that his behavior may be regarded as extremely rude according to everyone who has worked with him, which is why I still consider this to be a detriment to him as a person. If this is true, then I can see your point.

jfengel 3y ago

An autistic person may have difficulty reading social cues, but it's hard to imagine a clearer social cue than "this person is wearing a device for the express purpose of not listening to things".

CaptainFever 3y ago

> Yes, I realize he's probably autistic. The counter I have to that is that autism isn't an excuse. It's an explanation It’s a disability. > Almost every autistic person I know is miles more understanding than RMS is in that their behavior might sometimes come across in ways they didn't intent to. It’s also a spectrum. Something that might be easy for an autistic person might be hard for another. That said… > and RMS has habitually rejected any attempts to understand that his behavior may be regarded as extremely rude according to everyone who has worked with him, which is why I still consider this to be a detriment to him as a person. If this is true, then I can see your point.