[GTALUG] Surveillance Capitalism [was another thread]

[Dhaval Giani]

>
>> are all aware of. Many women were uncomfortable around RMS and avoided
>> him. Many refused to participate in our community because of
>> interactions with him. Do you think RMS is more important than a
>> community of developers he is pushing away?
>
>
> See all the stuff you say we are all aware in this message is just rumors and innuendo to me.
>

Wait, so all these women saying those words are rumours and innuendo?
You choose to disbelieve them? After a pattern of behaviour that
multiple people have confirmed and talked about?

> What are not rumors and innuendo are the historical facts on IBM, their influence, their power and powerful friends and most importantly their big ball of money which they spend on influenceing the influencers.
>
>>
>> I want to explicitly state this. RMS is a major reason free software
>> is where it is. RMS's contributions to free software are gigantic.
>> However, RMS cannot be a leader of our community if he continues to
>> isolate a significant population of prospective developers. RMS the
>> contributor - YES. RMS the leader - NO.
>>
>> RMS cannot be the poster child of our community if it is going to be
>> relevant in the future.
>
>
> This is where being the willing poster child of a charitable institution, used to raise funds, diverges from the science of truth and innovation.
>
> In the legal science of truth, a person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. However, media and the media barons in conteol, crucify persons and their personas daily, just to make a buck.
>

And no one has charged RMS with a crime. All we are saying is, he is
not representative of a majority of us, and we don't want him to
represent us. Some of us are minorities who have heard racist
statements being made by prominent folks in the community and have
made us feel our contributions are not valued. It is not hard to
believe after that experience that other prominent folks can be
sexist. RMS has not stepped up and owned up to his actions and
apologized. I have no problem with people growing. We all make
mistakes. But doubling down like this, well I don't want to be a part
of that community. And the reality is, there are tons of "other"
people who will not join in and we will never know. So yes, if the
choice is between thousands of those people, having a diverse
community, growing and being relevant to the world, I would rather RMS
step down than us lose this community. And I would rather you leave
the community if you think being more welcoming to other voices is not
important. We don't need your contributions at the risk of alienating
many more people.

Again, I restate this. RMS as a contributor - yes. RMS as a leader -
no. He doesn't represent me, and he certainly doesn't represent the
community of foss developers. This is a discussion about RMS, not the
conspiracy theories you are throwing about.

Dhaval