An anonymous reader writes: Debian Project Secretary Kurt Roeckx has announced the results of a closely-watched vote on what statement would be made about Richard Stallman's readmission to the Free Software Foundation's board. Seven options were considered, with the Debian project's 420 voting d...
As far as I know the goal of Debian is not to attract the most users but a certain set of values. If RMS is incompatible with these values then there’s indeed something gained from distancing yourself.
Debian is political, it always has been and just pretending it isn’t won’t do good.
When there’s actual proof that RMS is incompatible with the values that he himself claims to defend, then it would make sense for them to be against him.
Not issuing a statement is by itself a skeptical position. I don’t think it’s about pretending not to be political, but rather avoid getting involved in something that shouldn’t have been taken so seriously.
I didn’t want to discuss whether there is proof, I think I’m on a different side there though.
All that RMS did is in the open, what’s left is considering this either compatible (or irrelevant to) with Debian, or not.
Debian values are also in the open: https://www.debian.org/social_contract One of the points is “No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups”.
Imho, what’s missing is the aritmetic that connects the dots and proves (or disproves) that any of the points of the Debian social contract are affected by “all that RMS did”.
If the connection isn’t clear, then I think the wise move is to not move in either direction. Making a move just because “Debian is political” would not be good, imho.
Sure, that is “missing” but it’s nothing “in the dark” or “hidden that can be revealed”. Like, all information is indeed on the table. It’s up to the individual or the group to either recognise a libk if one exists or claim there is none.
There’s nothing that could be revealed worth waiting for, is what I’m saying.
Because of Stallman’s jarring directness and language pedantry, I am open to the idea that he may have some light autistic features. Therefore, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that RMS had no malicious intent, simply a very pedantic way of expression, which does not make him guilty.
It should also be considered then, whether those who in fact say they fight against discrimination (disregarding RMS’s actual intent) do not in fact discriminate, in a certain manner against him…
Is the point about guilt or being unfit for social leadership? Indeed it’s completely irrelevant whether there’s malicious intent, as the judgment is not about “should he be in hell or heaven” but “should he be leader of the FSF”.
Furthermore, he completely rejects the idea of him being autistic. In fact, many of the signatories of the “reject him from the board” letter are autistic or part of autistic support groups. And what they say is: Being autistic is not an excuse for hurting other people. Somehow all the people who are not a relevant part of the autism community suddenly all pop up and try to protect the poor autistic RMS… .
Discrimination due to some people claiming him to be autistic is simply bullshit in this context. Even more so because accepting him to question other peoples very identity and existence in society is a far more basic discrimination on his part. Be it “in malicious intent” or not. If he indeed were autistic then measures can be found to still make him fit for leadership, there are many autistic people in high positions (also signatories of the reject-rms letter).
And this is completely disregarding that he’s not only pedantic, but also, in many ways often literally wrong. Especially when it comes to meanings of words in languages. But that’s just a side note.
His words are that he’s neurodivergent, autistic’s just my guess. Also, see https://stallman.org/articles/genderless-pronouns.html (this may be an odd thing to write an article about, but I don’t see it rejecting the identities of other people).
He’s also not the president, nor the leader of the FSF, just an advisor. It’s interesting that these new facts are never taken into account when discussing his role. That is why I believe this is all unwarranted, if he shouldn’t be the president, or the ‘leader’ of the FSF, ok, he literally isn’t.
But now that’s not enough. This is where I am questioning people’s motivations more with regards to an attempt of blurring the line between free software, and open-source, regardless of what RMS does, regardless of what backseat position he takes, or whether he apologizes and explains himself (which he did).
Neurodivergent is a broad category. And it ain’t a free pass for being an asshole, but anyway.
He’s a major de-facto leader, the actual position does, in fact, not matter as it’s the role he is perceived to be in. And yes, this perception matters because it is this that forms other peoples opinion on the FSF.
I agree that the line b/w Open Source and Free Software is already too blurry. Ironically though, the people who invented Open Source, like ESR, are supporters of RMS in the letter.
I think the best thing FSF/RMS could do, would be to properly address the – well known – problems, and half-hearted apologies don’t fit the bill here. This would protect Free Software from malicious free riders on this letter (and there always will be some).
He describes himself as essentially neurodivergent and tone-deaf (his word): https://www.fsf.org/news/rms-addresses-the-free-software-community
I’ve met him and a lot of people I know and trust have been around him at conferences. In 20 years I’ve heard plenty of complains about his public behavior and I’ve witnessed various episodes of that. Nobody ever told me in person that RMS is inherently evil or malevolent, but rather unable to act appropriately around people or understand what is socially acceptable, despite having been told many times. He apologized on various occasions over the years… without changing behavior.
Public roles are different from private life. A public speaker is responsible of communicating clearly, understanding the context of conversations, acting properly, and avoid creating these controversies in the first place.
But this is my point. He may not be too good at evaluating whether some behaviour is in fact similar, or the same as another behaviour, which you, as a non-neurodivergent person may evaluate as something that’s quite similar. For example, a change of place, theme, or the structure of participants, may present enough detail to a divergent person to evaluate a situation as different, even if it may appear to us as reasonably (although of course not exactly) similar to previous situations, that they have previously encountered.
I am saying, despite his odd behaviour, his accomplishments and role (even as a public speaker) should be applauded in my opinion, especially, if we look at them through this lens of him being neurodivergent.
Otherwise, what’s being promoted, is essentially discrimination, by people, who therefore hypocritically claim they are for a diversity of experiences and the inclusion in society of the usually marginalised.
https://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2021/04/msg00289.html
Is there nothing that Stallman could say or do that could possibly bring light on the issue?
If Stallman deserves all the “adjectives” that the open letter accused him of, I think ultimately there would be some more solid proof that justifies the slander, given enough time I think ultimatelly it’d be proven he’s what he’s accused to be, and then he’ll deserve to be criticised by Debian and many other projects.
If, on the other hand, it turns out that the mob accusing him was misinterpreting and dehumanizing him, then I’ll agree, I think the opinion on him will never change no matter what he does… even if he begged on his knees crying, he’ll still be dehumanized.
There are some things that are referenced that way, but the majority of things were/are out in the open.
I don’t want to go down this rabbit-hole, but the accusations aren’t anything new. In fact, they’re decades old and he was given a pass, multiple times. And at some point, yes, people will start seeing excuses as a farce.
Whether you think what he said was in fact e.g., transphobic is another matter. I personally doubt that he has much of “hate” for most or any of the groups, but, at the end of the day, he treats people in very demeaning matter. And he doesn’t seem to be capable of understanding why, what he does and says, is bad. And that’s fine – but not as a spokesperson. But that’s my personal opinion. My point is mostly about
And every time he treats people in a bad manner he should be reprimended. This isn’t about tolerance towards hurting people, but about judging if the person is actually a “misogynist, ableist, and transphobic” and all sorts of accusations the open letter claimed.
Oh, we could agree on that.
I might have even agreed with the letter myself had it been more reasonable. But removing him from every “position of power” isn’t the same as banning him from being a “spokesperson”.
In fact, the letter misses the point so much that even if the FSF had listened to it, it would have still been perfectly possible for RMS to abandon any hope for joining any advisory board and end up as mouthpiece for defending Free Software, doing even more public speakings… essentially making him more of a “spokesperson”.
The problem is, him not being a spokesperson was something that was, in fact, asked multiple times before. But somehow, him still being “in power” get gets himself into position to become a spokesperson again. This is nothing new.
The Debian Free Software Guidelines explicitly prohibits discrimination of the people who use their software regardless as to what their values are. They are writing software in the public interest which presumably means that they want the public to use it. Other than ensuring those who use the software are abiding by the license it’s licensed under there is nothing the project can do in terms of selecting who uses it.
The values of free software? I think over the course of his entire life he’s demonstrated that he’s entirely committed.
I agree, but the only politics that really matter are those of computing freedom for all.