Re: Nuance Regarding RMS
Hi Barak,
On Thu, Apr 01, 2021 at 11:51:59AM +0100, Barak A. Pearlmutter wrote:
[...]
> I'm not sure he'd be an ideal board member, but that’s a practical
> rather than ethical consideration, and surely best left to the
> judgement of the individual organization.
>
> What’s problematic to me about this whole “Cancel RMS” business is the
> lack of nuance. He’s clearly not neurotypical in a way that makes him
> very difficult to deal with.
So,
In my book, that's not an excuse.
I too am not neurotypical, and my natural tendencies make me, too, very
difficult to deal with.
However, most people who are not neurotypical are still capable of
learning. When people tell me that I'm being difficult, I listen. When
people tell me that what I'm doing may push people away, I will usually
attempt to avoid that particular type of behavior. I do not always
succeed; but in doing so, over the years, I've changed my personality
from someone who used to be rather annoying to what, I hope, is not the
case anymore.
RMS has been told, on numerous occasions, that the things he's doing are
counterproductive. He either chose to ignore the advice, or decided that
the advice was wrong. Either way, the result is that we now have a
person in a position of leadership who tends to push people away, rather
than being a positive force in the free software movement.
> He doesn’t make appropriate eye contact.
> He’s strange in ways that I think, on average, affects women more than
> men. But should we bully or ostracise him for that?
I don't think that pointing out that the way in which the FSF made a
decision that they could have known was going to antagonize a lot of
people amounts to "bullying". I don't think RMS should be forced out of
the free software world altogether. He has many accomplishments, and we
should be grateful to him for jumpstarting the free software movement as
a whole (I know I am).
However, there is a difference between acknowledging a person's past
accomplishments, and believing that he is the right person for a
position of leadership. In the case of RMS, I do the former; I don't do
the latter.
I do think that RMS can still have a position within the FSF; but for
him to announce that he's back on the board, that it's a done deal, and
that "he won't be resigning again", just like that, was a mistake.
It's that mistake that this is a reaction to.
> I think we should
> try to develop coping strategies for both him and people who want or
> need to deal with him.
I don't think we need to continue dancing around any one person, both
because it's annoying for everyone who needs to dance, *and* because *it
doesn't help the person in question*.
I think RMS needs to go see a therapist. Not because I think he's crazy
or anything of the sorts, but because I can tell you from personal
experience that a therapist can teach you certain techniques that may
help you improve your own personality in an incremental fashion.
> That’s actually supporting and accommodating diversity. And it’s hard!
> We should seek ways to leverage his strengths, which are considerable.
> Of course, that assumes lack of malice, which I think is the case with
> RMS. He’s not malicious.
I agree that he is not malicious, but I also don't think that is at all
relevant. Malice is not required for being incapable of leading.
I think RMS is utterly incapable of being a good person in a position of
leadership for a community that I consider myself to be a member of --
and that's still true even if I'm not now, nor have I ever been, a
member of the FSF in any shape or form.
The open letter does not state that RMS should be ejected from the free
software movement in general, or from the FSF specifically. Were that
the case, I would agree with you that it was wrong. Instead, it merely
states that he should be removed from leadership positions, both in the
FSF and in the GNU project.
I agree with that, because I don't think he is the right person to lead
either of those.
--
To the thief who stole my anti-depressants: I hope you're happy
-- seen somewhere on the Internet on a photo of a billboard
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