Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 19, 2019 4:36 UTC (Thu) by mkaehlcke (guest, #61834)
Parent article: Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Reflections from Thomas Bushnell, who worked with Stallman over a long period:

https://medium.com/@thomas.bushnell/a-reflection-on-the-d...

Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 19, 2019 8:51 UTC (Thu) by tajyrink (subscriber, #2750) [Link] (1 responses)

Thank you, for anyone new to the thread I can recommend skipping all the previous discussion and just reading that.

Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 20, 2019 15:55 UTC (Fri) by da4089 (subscriber, #1195) [Link]

Agreed. This is the best writing (and thinking) I've seen on this subject by far.

Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 19, 2019 16:24 UTC (Thu) by donbarry (guest, #10485) [Link] (1 responses)

A despicable case of nursing a grudge for two decades until someone is down and then dishonestly piling on. Bushnell's sudden late "enlightenment" as to Stallman's faults is pure opportunism.

Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 19, 2019 17:06 UTC (Thu) by mkaehlcke (guest, #61834) [Link]

> A despicable case of nursing a grudge for two decades until someone is down and then dishonestly piling on. Bushnell's sudden late "enlightenment" as to Stallman's faults is pure opportunism.

I don't read the post as coming from someone holding a deep grudge and using the opportunity to pile on. Besides providing his perspective about the situation at MIT (et al) Thomas still expresses a certain sympathy for RMS and tries to understand his side:

"There has been some bad reporting, and that’s a problem. While I have not waded through the entire email thread Selam G. has posted, my reaction was that RMS did not defend Epstein, and did not say that the victim in this case was acting voluntarily."

"He thought that Marvin Minsky was being unfairly accused. Minsky was his friend for many many years, and I think he carries a lot of affection and loyalty for his memory."

"I feel very sad for him. He’s a tragic figure. He is one of the most brilliant people I’ve met, who I have always thought desperately craved friendship and camaraderie, and seems to have less and less of it all the time. This is all his doing; nobody does it to him. But it’s still very sad. As far as I can tell, he believes his entire life’s work is a failure."

To me Thomas sounds more sad and somewhat conflicted, than happy about the opportunity to deal out blows.