3 ms·

There has to be some truth to this. However, you don't need to make women uneasy (among other things) to promote free software. His heroic work on free softwa

by jraph 3y ago

There has to be some truth to this. However, you don't need to make women uneasy (among other things) to promote free software. His heroic work on free software shall not shield him from criticism about other aspects of him. Reacting because accepting bullshit from heroes is widespread but dangerous (not saying you are doing it).

rastapasta42 3y ago
how did he make woman uneasy? Is dirty neckbeard a crime now? :(
- jraph 3y ago
  > Is dirty neckbeard a crime now? Of course not. I'm obviously not talking about his appearance and could not care less about his hygiene.
someotherperson 3y ago
> However, you don't need to make women uneasy (among other things) to promote free software. Plenty of people with physical disabilities make people "uneasy" -- who's wrong here? The burn victim or the person taking offence to it? Stallman didn't do anything towards women that warrants the criticism he received. The claims have been debunked and it just comes down to him coming across as a 'creep' -- aka considered unattractive. Yeah, okay.
- jraph 3y ago
  https://nitter.net/starsandrobots/status/994267630457401344 https://nitter.net/starsandrobots/status/994267630457401344 > I remember being walked around campus by an upperclassman getting advice during my freshman year at MIT. "Look at all the plants in her office," referring to a professor. "All the women CSAIL professors keep massive amounts of foliage" s/he said. "Stallman really hates plants." If this is true, he must have been doing something to women that goes beyond being unattractive, no? You really really should avoid making people build such workarounds to avoid you. And the fact that it's women specifically is suspicious. Now, I'd really like to be proven wrong, that'd be pretty great. It saddens me that RMS was like this.
bawolff 3y ago
People are complex and rarely just pure good or bad. I agree its incredibly dangerous to accept bs just because someone is famous, but i also worry that if we throw out all the sinners we'll have no heroes left. Its a hard question how to square all that and i don't have the answer.
- jraph 3y ago
  I think we can recognize heroes as such, without idealizing them and still accept to hear about and recognize their worse sides. I would not want to throw RMS away. And I think we should also stop considering huge assholes as heroes / models, like Picasso.

by jraph 3y ago

rastapasta42 3y ago

how did he make woman uneasy? Is dirty neckbeard a crime now? :(

jraph 3y ago
> Is dirty neckbeard a crime now? Of course not. I'm obviously not talking about his appearance and could not care less about his hygiene.

someotherperson 3y ago

> However, you don't need to make women uneasy (among other things) to promote free software. Plenty of people with physical disabilities make people "uneasy" -- who's wrong here? The burn victim or the person taking offence to it? Stallman didn't do anything towards women that warrants the criticism he received. The claims have been debunked and it just comes down to him coming across as a 'creep' -- aka considered unattractive. Yeah, okay.

jraph 3y ago
https://nitter.net/starsandrobots/status/994267630457401344 https://nitter.net/starsandrobots/status/994267630457401344 > I remember being walked around campus by an upperclassman getting advice during my freshman year at MIT. "Look at all the plants in her office," referring to a professor. "All the women CSAIL professors keep massive amounts of foliage" s/he said. "Stallman really hates plants." If this is true, he must have been doing something to women that goes beyond being unattractive, no? You really really should avoid making people build such workarounds to avoid you. And the fact that it's women specifically is suspicious. Now, I'd really like to be proven wrong, that'd be pretty great. It saddens me that RMS was like this.

bawolff 3y ago

People are complex and rarely just pure good or bad. I agree its incredibly dangerous to accept bs just because someone is famous, but i also worry that if we throw out all the sinners we'll have no heroes left. Its a hard question how to square all that and i don't have the answer.

jraph 3y ago
I think we can recognize heroes as such, without idealizing them and still accept to hear about and recognize their worse sides. I would not want to throw RMS away. And I think we should also stop considering huge assholes as heroes / models, like Picasso.