I'm creating a throwaway that I hope won't irk dang. If this breaks the rules, I'm sorry and I'll stop.
Richard Stallman single-handedly created the free software movement, and he's the reason we all have jobs. Google and Facebook might not have been possible in a world where you couldn't spin up a server for free and compile code without paying a license.
Richard Stallman has said some sexist and edgy things. He also has Asperger's, which poses challenges many of us do not face. He hasn't, as far as I know, committed any crimes.
Do we destroy the pillar we've built our entire livelihoods upon to satisfy a mob?
Have all of us been truly without blame? Who hasn't said something they shouldn't have? Or done something that marginalized someone at some point in time (even if it wasn't on the basis of sex, gender, race, etc.)?
I don't want to live in a world without American freedom of speech - where we can't be blunt and speak our minds.
I don't want to live in a world where we can't be forgiven.
I was reading comments in another HN thread, and one poster suggested that this might arise from raising kids without bullying. Like the immune system, if we don't develop a central tolerance, perhaps we start attacking everything we find unpleasant? No basis in behavioral science, of course.
And then there's the engagement-driven social media monster. Twitter, in particular. It's destroying careers.
We're badgering the members of the FSF. We're denying Richard Stallman any chances.
This isn't good. It's horrific.
What do we do about this?
Richard Stallman single-handedly created the free software movement, and he's the reason we all have jobs. Google and Facebook might not have been possible in a world where you couldn't spin up a server for free and compile code without paying a license.
Richard Stallman has said some sexist and edgy things. He also has Asperger's, which poses challenges many of us do not face. He hasn't, as far as I know, committed any crimes.
Do we destroy the pillar we've built our entire livelihoods upon to satisfy a mob?
Have all of us been truly without blame? Who hasn't said something they shouldn't have? Or done something that marginalized someone at some point in time (even if it wasn't on the basis of sex, gender, race, etc.)?
I don't want to live in a world without American freedom of speech - where we can't be blunt and speak our minds.
I don't want to live in a world where we can't be forgiven.
I was reading comments in another HN thread, and one poster suggested that this might arise from raising kids without bullying. Like the immune system, if we don't develop a central tolerance, perhaps we start attacking everything we find unpleasant? No basis in behavioral science, of course.
And then there's the engagement-driven social media monster. Twitter, in particular. It's destroying careers.
We're badgering the members of the FSF. We're denying Richard Stallman any chances.
This isn't good. It's horrific.
What do we do about this?