
Thoughts on Rms and Gnu - ingve
https://wingolog.org/archives/2019/10/08/thoughts-on-rms-and-gnu
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paulrpotts
I think this is good and wise commentary. I've met RMS and while I do admire
his work, there is no denying that in inter-personal matters, he is a
repulsive troll. I've sat in an audience and watched in disbelief as he
rambled on while stuffing his hand down the back of his pants, rooting around
back there, then pulling out his fingers and sniffing them, all without
missing a beat.

He and many other people would like, I think, to live in an abstracted world
where they interact mostly with other people using computers as
intermediaries, so that they don't _have_ to spend what they consider to be
wasted time on learning decent inter-personal behavior. I guess that's fine,
as it goes, but I think we are learning that living in that mindset means that
one's toxic thoughts can't help but leak through the terminal interface.

I will actually be glad when it isn't good enough for people to be technically
brilliant; we also can and should insist that they be decent and respectful in
their inter-personal behavior as well.

I'm reading a fascinating biography of some of the science fiction writers
that produced the so-called "golden age," called _Astounding_ by Alec Nevala-
Lee. The author does not hold back from mentioning that widely beloved figures
like Isaac Asimov had terrible habits like snapping women's bra straps
whenever he'd walk past them, or groping female fans whenever the opportunity
presented itself.

Full disclosure: I myself did the bra strap thing a lot... when I was sixteen.

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GhettoMaestro
Well written thoughts.

I am more terse in my summary RE RMS: A genius asshole is obviously a genius,
but more importantly, still a [royal fucking] asshole.

I do feel bad for RMS, aside from my criticism of him. I feel like he is a
tragic figure who could have had wildly different outcomes if he had even 10
or 20% more inter-personal social skills. That said, I will never attempt to
minimize or discredit his meaningful contributions.

