Richard Stallman's Return Denounced by the EFF, Tor Project, Mozilla, and the Creator of Rust

[+] [email protected] 39 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (4 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 years ago (1 children)

If there were a third open letter for people who want a compromise, I wonder what that should include. any thoughts?

"we believe that the fair way to resolve the issue is through creation of a formal process in fsf", or something like that?

because it is to none of our advantage that free software enthusiasts are now cancelling each other based on which letter they signed.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 years ago (1 children)

Well said.

What's the back-story, anyway?

a series of serious accusations of misconduct led to his resignation

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 years ago (3 children)

Stallman is a 68 year old unpopular-with-the-ladies mansplaining type of guy that has a very crude humour and low interpersonal skills. He's also a bit of a genius when it comes to software. He's got a laundry list of things he's said and done that are distasteful towards women. Nothing illegal however. He's one of those guys that would rather be technically right than anything else.

Unfortunately he's a victim of mob justice and cancel culture.

I don't like Stallman, I do respect his contributions to the FOSS movement. I agree cancelling Stallman outside of due process is a really bad look for the FOSS movement.

[+] [email protected] 13 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (1 children)

believe he was removed as President with good reason.

Is that because of the

things he’s said and done that are distasteful towards women

?

Or was there another reason to remove him?

(I am very out of the loop)

[+] [email protected] 4 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago)

Okay so it's not that he was doing a bad job or that they found someone else who would do a better job, and it's not that he broke any explicit FSF rules or refused to obey an FSF rule.

It's thought-crime, essentially. He had strong and unpopular ideas, sany people disliked him, so he's bad for the FSF's image.

But you could argue that that kind of creativity, the inclination to ignore convention and forcefully invent and argue for your own vision of that world - that's a requirement for the job of leading the FSF.

I haven't had time to start doing my own research about him (given how influential he was in the course of 20th century history) but I will.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 years ago (1 children)

"allegedly".

Supposedly on his blog there is no bad attitude towards women at all, quite the opposite.

There are people who searched it.

He is uncoruptable like Sokrates. Probably the real reason.

The misstreated women is used over and over to stir up drama to remove uncorruptible people.

The uncorruptible part is clearly why every single company are against him.

They fear loosing power to good free opensource software, that does not sell people lives.

This what appears to be a storm in a glaswater drama just makes me trust him even more to be a genuine person.

And I don't know much about him.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 years ago (1 children)

That makes sense. But if there really is a conspiracy, there will be evidence of it too. That's the kind of thing anyone can research and find the evidence for ... if it's real.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 years ago

Not a conspiracy, just interests aligning and politics.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago)

I think I'd like him. He sounds great. I must listen to his lectures (or interviews or whatever he does mostly)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 years ago (1 children)

its a shame that the EFF, and Tor Project are dogpiling on the FSF, i greatly respect these organizations and use the Tor Browser, and Orbot daily.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (1 children)

Agreed, but they both have flaws. EFF had a big article posted about how evil social media trackers are posted right along side their twitter and facebook share buttons. I contacted them and asked them to follow their own guidelines and they replied they’d look into it. That was months ago.

As for Tor, a story under an old account called dirtfindr tells of them banning him or her on IRC for bringing up problems with their support of DDG. The chat log is posted there.

But like FSF in varying degrees of flawedness, their massive contributions far outweigh their oversights.

Edit: Here is another exmaple of EFF hypocrisy:

https://www.facebook.com/eff/ At long last, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is asking for your broadband experiences. When you submit your experiences here, you will let the (pasted from search blurb)

553,000,000 Reasons Not to Let Facebook Make Decisions About Your Privacy (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/04/553000000-reasons-not-let-facebook-make-decisions-about-your-privacy)

Given all that, why do users stay on Facebook? For many, it’s a hostage situation: their friends, families, communities, and professional networks are on Facebook, so that’s where they have to be. Meanwhile, those friends, family members, communities, and professional networks are stuck on Facebook because their friends are there, too. Deleting Facebook comes at a very high cost. It doesn’t have to be this way.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 years ago

What I like about the FSF compared to the others is that they actually stick to their values. No compromises, you don't have to run any proprietary JS to view their site, etc.

They actually seem to practice what they preach

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 years ago

Bullshit. Where was the transparency when they decided unilaterally to bring a child-abuse apologist back on the payroll? That shit came out of nowhere, which is why the whole board is being held to account.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 years ago (2 children)

It's a shame that despite his very wrecked state of mind regarding some issues, FSF actually hold some believes that I actually support. The four freedoms including the zeroth is actually a fundamental concept that should be used when developing a software.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 years ago

His personal blogposts, while rightly controversial, and sensitive, have, like any work of philosophy, simply the form of a thought experiment, if understandably an uncomfortable one. That doesn’t necessarily mean he endorses all of the expressed views. Since Plato philosophy has pondered/raised questions of mortality. Besides being misquoted, I see no primary evidence that RMS actually endorses what he’s being accused of.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 years ago (1 children)

of course. the FSF and even RMS himself are great, but he is not suitable to represent the movement as a leader.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 years ago (1 children)

Is a backseat board director a leader though? They probably would have had less trouble if they just had him as an "advisor" without voting power.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 years ago

I would be more happy with that

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 years ago (1 children)

Och, bunch of bullies ganging up on the weird kid.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (1 children)

Yeah, it is sad to see "inclusive" people rallying against someone who is clearly autistic, for liking to argue semantics at wrong times.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 years ago

I would support anyone's ability, neurotypical or otherwise, to express their opinions without a having a witch hunting rabble demanding their employers fire them.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 years ago

No sins are forgiven or forgot on the internet

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 years ago

uphold stallman thought

[+] [email protected] -7 points 4 years ago (1 children)

The FSF has been a waste of resources for decades. They fundraise all day just to send some poor bastard in a GNU costume to Windows release parties. Seeing them choose Stallman as their hill to die on just cements how useless they already are.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 years ago

I am sure you have done serious advocacy for freedom and privacy, and have zero issues with politically correct opinions.

[+] [email protected] -9 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (1 children)

I stand with RMS on this one. Mob cancel culture is simply virtue signalling and doing Western SJW stuff.

It simply shows these corporates, r/twoxxchromosomes tier feminists and PR culture have an axe to grind against the creator and symbol of free software movement.

Disclaimer: before anyone thinks I am le right winger, I lean towards democratic socialism and am from India. I happen to know both white/neo nazi and Western SJW cancel cultures. I also have a credible long history on Lemmy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 years ago (1 children)

Speak up publicly. Did you use your own real name in the support letter? You should.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (2 children)

So that people like you can harass and witch hunt me based on 30% truth 70% lies style propaganda? Nope.

Also I have not signed the letter yet, because I find neither sides fully correct. I lean towards RMS though, because he has done way more for digital freedom than any of these mob reactionaries will ever do together in the coming centuries.

RMS has not committed any crime, so I do not find him wrong in this. One can speak whatever the hell they want as long as it is not racist, xenophobic or provoking crime.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 years ago

Power in numbers. We can't stay forever in the closet. Cancel barbarism is plain wrong.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 years ago (2 children)

One can speak whatever the hell they want as long as it is not racist, xenophobic or provoking crime

But misogyny is where you draw the line?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (1 children)

Oh come on, nice work twisting the words in their mouth.

Also I'm curious where Stallman has been openly misogynistic, as opposed to just socially clueless.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 years ago

Not twisting anything, just pointing out the hypocrisy in the quoted text.

Also I'm at work, so I won't dig in his past behavior on the internet for you now, but I am not the only one mentioning this stuff, which also had a part on RMS's resign years ago, so there is little reason to still bring his misogyny into question today on 2021. Guy's a boomer with some outdated boomer views, but being a boomer doesn't excuse him for not updating his views.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 4 years ago

Actually, misandry too. Meanwhile add reverse racism and argument deflection to things that should be condemned.

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