Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 17, 2019 14:30 UTC (Tue) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630)
In reply to: Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF by wertigon
Parent article: Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

"Yes he may be sexist. That's RMS for ya though."

This kind of "ha ha, boys will be boys" attitude is emblematic of the problem.

Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 17, 2019 14:58 UTC (Tue) by wertigon (guest, #42963) [Link] (5 responses)

More like, relics of a bygone era. This joke was completely fine when RMS first started out in Academia. Heck, people from the forties and fifties used the N-word casually, until people told them to stop. And most of them did, too. But then there are people like RMS, that still cling by old values and sometimes forget themselves.

Seems like many people want to paint RMS as the pervy professor always hittin' on the ladies, but according to first-hand witnesses, he's just a goofball and actually a very thoughtful person once you get to meet him. Oh well. Matters little now I suppose.

Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 17, 2019 15:42 UTC (Tue) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link] (4 responses)

According to first-hand witnesses? Well, if you read the Twitter thread posted elsewhere, there are first-hand witnesses who do actually claim he's the "pervy professor" you mentioned.

Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 17, 2019 19:53 UTC (Tue) by wertigon (guest, #42963) [Link] (3 responses)

How many know him personally? How many reached out and said "I am not okay with your behavior"? Because people who actually know him paint a different picture entirely.

It's easy to join the hate train when it's going strong, but whatever. Done is dusted.

Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 17, 2019 20:12 UTC (Tue) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link]

Well, it's a fact that there are two very different pictures of RMS by different people who know him personally. Where does the truth lie? In between? Some of both? Who knows.

Few people are all good or all bad. It's entirely possible for RMS to have made wonderful contributions to the Free Software movement while at the same time being somewhat creepy to women. The problem is that once you reach a certain level of fame and start representing an organization, your personal failings become unacceptable.

Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 17, 2019 20:55 UTC (Tue) by mjg59 (subscriber, #23239) [Link]

> How many know him personally?

Me, for one.

> How many reached out and said "I am not okay with your behavior"?

Me, for one. Never got anywhere.

Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 20, 2019 0:07 UTC (Fri) by dkg (subscriber, #55359) [Link]

>How many know him personally? How many reached out and said "I am not okay with your behavior"?

I have.

I have deep respect for the work that he's done in establishing the goals of software freedom and user freedom, but for a long time now his thoughtlessly sexist behavior has been detrimental to the cause. He has alienated far too many people -- of all genders -- who could otherwise be allies, supporters, contributors, and leaders. His retirement is long overdue for those of us who care about the health of the community and movement that he was instrumental in founding.

I've spoken to him about these tradeoffs (multiple times, but not enough, sadly), and I've encouraged him to either change his behavior or to step down for the sake of the bigger picture goals that we do share. His responses tended to be defensive and unempathetic -- and even in the rare cases where he was able to step outside of his own perspective and see how his behavior might have been harmful, his ego got in the way of taking corrective action (let alone making amends).

These are not admirable qualities in anyone -- and definitely not acceptable qualities for the would-be leader of a public movement.

Note that this is an entirely practical perspective that I would hope would be held by anyone who cares about free software -- even if I thought that sexist attitudes or behavior were somehow morally acceptable (I emphatically do not), I would still be applauding his resignation.