Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Apologies

[Matt Ivie]

On Wed, 2019-09-25 at 17:46 +0100, Leah Rowe via libreplanet-discuss
wrote:
> The sad thing is that RMS is one of the champions of womens rights in
> the free software world. He has said some stupid things in the past,
> but he's a really nice guy and really supportive. He's always there
> to
> answer emails and offer guidance on things. He is one of my role
> models.
> 
In my observation he's always supported equal rights for everyone. I've
never seen anything from him that contradicts that.

> He accepted my project (Libreboot) into the GNU project, after I came
> out as transgender for instance. It didn't phase him at all. Later on
> I
> accused him and others of stuff and the project was ejected from GNU;
> but he's a really nice guy. I later regretted the stuff I said about
> him (back then I was ignorant and really fucked up as a person). He
> came
> to me *personally* (via email) a few months ago when he was working
> on a
> new article on his blog about using gender neutral pronouns in his
> talks/articles, and asked me to proofread it and offer constructive
> criticism (he emailed the draft to others too).
> 
> The thing is, I think Richard is probably high-functioning
> autistic...
> like me. He says stupid things sometimes, without taking into account
> how other people will feel (because he can't. which is OK. I don't
> understand other peoples emotions either).
> 
> It makes me really sad that he was brutalized by the media so much.
> He
> didn't deserve any of the abuse he got. 
> 
Many of the complaints that are being made against him seem to be
coming from jokes he has made or opinions he has that people don't
agree with. The difficult thing about all of these complaints is that
they are hard to verify and it is one person's telling of the event. By
saying this I don't mean any disrespect to people that have come
forward with a complaint against him. 

A behavior that is bothering me is that there are people that are
attacking him as a person, but not specifically criticizing the things
he's said. It's one thing to be offended by a joke that you find in bad
taste, or to disagree with someone's opinion but to attack that
person's character simply on those grounds, I find a bit excessive.

I've observed that in the past RMS has made changes to his jokes and
adjusted his opinions based on feedback and consideration of the
material. I think it is okay to disagree with his ideas but it has made
me sad to see some of these personal attacks.

Leah, this is not directed at you but your comment really got me
thinking specifically about this. I think we're all heading in the
right direction as a community and we're trying to mend.

I'd like to echo what someone else said on another thread and just say
that I appreciate the positive tone and the respectful discussion that
everyone is having.

Free Software!

Respectfully
Matt Ivie

> On Wed, 25 Sep 2019 14:36:56 +0000 'smee via
> libreplanet-discuss <libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org> wrote:
> 
> > That's what got me irritated. I'll have to keep in mind though that
> > there may be real people who see the coordinated attack (maybe not
> > seeing it for what it is) and see it as an opportunity to air their
> > grievances or share their experiences. 
> > 
> > They do deserve to be listened to (and questioned), but I'll do
> > better
> > to consider that they're real people. I care about real people and
> > real grievances. Coordinated, agenda-driven attacks, and how they
> > play on real people's emotions, are despicable.
> > 
> > Thanks for your input.
> > 
> > 
> > > Of course it was coordinated. You'd have to be an idiot not to
> > > notice the blatant astroturfing
> > > 
> > 
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> > libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
> > https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
> 
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