One of my greatest idols since I was a preteen. Learning about him and his existence made me confident that there was a future for people like me.
How he has been treated in the last few years has been making me feel a lot less optimistic about the future of humanity. :(
What part of how he’s been treated? Nobody is making fun of him for being neurodivergent and picking his toes in public. Its gross, but ultimately not harmful. People have problems with his inability to understand how his comments about sex with minors are not appropriate either. There’s a big gap between these two things and if you fall into it, you’re probably okay.
Nice, try RMS, I mean gnu
I think he may have been right.
Lol the OP is literally GNU?
I prefer to call it Linux, not GNU/Linux.
RMS is a weirdo but generally a well meaning one, and many of his points are being proven correct. I’d rather have him around than not
I’ve been going with LiGNUx. The G is silent.
I don’t know who that is.
based honestly
His comments about women are inexcusable, but the fact he convinced Linus to adopt GPL is paying dividends to billions of people globally, and most of us don’t know it.
What comments about women?
Ugh. God damn. 🤢
Somehow I’m not surprised. He seems pretty eccentric. In a socially awkward way that makes you uncomfortable.
what may appear whimsical to men who receive them may seem creepy to women.
Isn’t this site supposed to - yk - support the equality of all genders?
I don’t really know what the site stands for or their agenda, but the list is a comprehensive list of things Richard Stallman has done to discomfort women in the field
discomfort women
Stallman has made many posts sympathizing with efforts to legalize some forms of child pornography. Among other things, they stated that he was “skeptical of the claim that voluntarily [sic] pedophilia harms children”. These comments were defended by his supporters on Slashdot. As of 2016, there are reports of Stallman changing his views on the matter within the previous few years.[2] However, in 2018 he defended Cody Wilson, who later pled guilty to sex with an underage girl, with Stallman saying that the girl likely had “entirely willing sex with him.” Stallman changed his original post but nevertheless still said it is “normal for adults to be physically attracted to adolescents” and that adults using trafficked children shouldn’t be legally responsible. In 2019, Stallman posted an email to an MIT listserv about the allegation that MIT professor Marvin Minsky raped a 17-year-old girl, and due to public outcry he resigned from both MIT and the Free Software Foundation.
Women are just so sensitive!
I posted my own comment, but every time Stallman comes up, this is what I refer people to: https://drewdevault.com/2023/11/25/2023-11-26-RMS-on-sex.html
As you said, these are not his “early views”, but a continuing and shifting pattern. You can read his own blog posts and its all there.
Minsky never raped anyone. The 17 year old girl was sent to him and politely refused. She has even confirmed this. I feel as if he goes to great lengths to speak clearly and people never seem to listen.
I do agree, however, his early views on pedophilia are creepy. I have never heard him support cp, so I won’t argue either way.
I am not a lawyer or a judge.
But “early views” nothing. The guy knows where he stands, it’s just that now he knows that being open about those views will get him in trouble.
Why does what I think matter to anyone ? I follow him on Mastodon and agree with most of his comments.
@rms@mastodon.xyz
Don’t think I’ve ever agreed with anyone all the time though.
I’ve watched one YouTube video of a talk he did and thought he was an odd duck with a lot of good ideas.
What stuck with me the most was “use free software, and be ready for it to lack convenience”.
I’m sorry if struggling (if that’s the right word) with that right now, because I’m interested in switching to OsmAnd instead of Google maps for navigation, but there’s no traffic or road closure info. There’s also no Android Auto option, as far as I’m aware.
Is that a code name for a glory hole hookup?
“I am not a woman, therefore I am not affected by his comments! Conclusion: good guy!” — far too many people in this thread
Dude also has some… “”“interesting”“” opinions on the legalization of CP.
All you gotta do is contribute to FOSS and you’re a hero?
Some of y’all dumb as hell.
he has never endorsed cp! He has, however, supported any one over the age of 14 having sex, and has changed his view on that a decade ago.
As of 2016, there are reports of Stallman changing his views on the matter within the previous few years.[2] However, in 2018 he defended Cody Wilson, who later pled guilty to sex with an underage girl, with Stallman saying that the girl likely had “entirely willing sex with him.” Stallman changed his original post but nevertheless still said it is “normal for adults to be physically attracted to adolescents” and that adults using trafficked children shouldn’t be legally responsible. In 2019, Stallman posted an email to an MIT listserv about the allegation that MIT professor Marvin Minsky raped a 17-year-old girl, and due to public outcry he resigned from both MIT and the Free Software Foundation.
changed his view on that a decade ago
got quieter about his views
At 17 years, it is a matter of technicality. Plenty of places draw line at 16 years, some even lower.
Y’all are grown folk arguing if it’s ethical to fuck high school students.
I got nothing to say to that.
Would you prefer teens to discuss and decide that instead? Or preteens?
I don’t know him personally, so if he got quieter or lied (he actually has a statement on his website that, according to you is a lie) about his views, I would not know. Look, I see more than plenty of reasons for one not to like him. I feel people run with media reports even when we have his email transcripts that can be read word for word.
My criticism lies only with people who staunchly defend him and/or consider him a good guy / hero.
I’m a woman, and have talked to him via email 2-3 times in the last 20 years. While I’ve met Torvalds, Jobs, and others in the industry when I was living in the Bay Area and working as a tech journalist, I never got to meet RMS – only via email. I think he has social issues, maybe he’s on the autistic side or something similar. I don’t think he understands clearly some of the things he’s saying when it comes to social stuff. He doesn’t get a pass, but at the same time, he’s a bit different as an individual, so that needs to be taken into account. When it comes to software, his heart is in the right place, and in fact, if it was me, I’d be even more strict (or more “Free” – depends how you see it), with GPL.
Defintly, we need GPLv4 already. To fix holes in licence which using coorps in GPLv3.
He’s a cutie <3 <3 <3 https://rms.sexy/
I love how in every photo rms has his laptop on his hand.
Imagine how many delights and horrors that Thinkpad has witnessed.
He’s neat :)
Smart guy. Not a good person. Don’t idolize people
sad to see that he thinks like that about rape and the whole Epstein thing :(
I wish people would read the published mail thread and not the news articles…he never defended rapists. His quote was quite different. Also, the victim, insofar as her interaction with his old boss, confirmed what happened.
An actual good take.
Thank you.
Honestly it comes across to me not as him defending rapists, but actually just genuinely not understanding how rape works. The guy somehow understands people less than I do, and that’s saying something.
That was my neighbor’s defense, too. “It wasn’t rape! She was very clearly coming onto me!” about the 14-year old girl he “”“encountered”“” as a college student.
He very absolutely understands what rape is. He just doesn’t want age to be a factor if she’s “into it”. It’s very very very very very clear where he stands: if she consents, it’s not rape, no matter her age!
Nobody is even accusing him of rape. Why treat him like a rapist when nobody has suggested the possibility that he had done anything wrong besides stick his foot in his mouth? It seems obvious to me that the point he was poorly attempting to make was that he’s uncomfortable with the inconsistencies around age of consent in different countries, not that there should be no such thing. 17 is enough to be a consenting adult in some actual reasonable countries.
No one is accusing him of rape. Just saying his view on the whole thing is sketch as fuck.
17 is enough to be a consenting adult in some actual reasonable countries.
…okay.
We’re talking about the creator of Emacs. Do you think that guy leaves his house.
