[GTALUG] The FOSS world's most famous incel is back...

[Evan Leibovitch]

On Wed, 24 Mar 2021 at 11:53, Russell Reiter via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
wrote:

> An incel is a personal self description as involuntary celebate.
>

Yeah, that was an incendiary headline, and I apologize to all who broke at
that one.

This is not at all a linux topic.
>

Actually it is, for anyone who cares about advocacy and the community as
much as the tech, it very much is.

My take on this winnerless sad chain of events that it's actually not at
all about Stallman himself.
It's pathetic story that says volumes about the free software community.

It's not about free speech. Stallman never lost access to his soapbox, the
blog from which he expressed himself.

To the extent it's been about "cancel culture", you reap what you sow. RMS
and the FSF have been engaging in would-be cancelling for many decades.

Cancel Xerox.
Cancel Apple.
Cancel "Linux System".
Cancel "open source".

That they did not succeed did not diminish the efforts. I was present when
FSF people (including RMS) successfully got the words "open source" purged
from an important UN policy document, only to be  outmanoeuvred by
proprietary interests who prevented "free software" from replacing it. So
in the end there was no mention of anything. Yay us.

There is much to admire about Stallman.  I purchased a GNU magtape in 1989
without having a magtape reader, because that was the way you contributed
to the GNU project back then. Arguably the FOSS world as we know it might
never exist as it does with him.

However, that world has evolved, or at least it's trying to. There are
still barriers to entry that keep our community smaller and older than it
should be. There are many, many among us who could be as passionate about
free software as Stallman, without all of the inevitable negative baggage.
Frankly, I haven't been following most of the accusations, and can make my
judgment on RMS's suitability for leadership based solely on what I've seen
and heard myself after numerous encounters, and from what I've heard from
others I trust.

But, as I said, this is not about Stallman. He is what he is and,
generally, what he's always been -- simultaneously brilliant, narcissistic
and antisocial, Sheldon Cooper with a Jesus complex. I fully agree that the
guilt-by-association stuff is bullshit.

This, instead, is about the FSF Board's staggeringly bad judgment in
bringing him back into a role of leadership and decision-making. Rather be
remembered as the creator of a movement, he'll be remembered as the person
whose comeback made that movement irrelevant. Instead of charting a way to
promote free software ideals at a time when the cloud directly threatens
their core ethos, the FSF chooses the anti-diplomat.

On reflection, forget the petition. The damage is done and the FSF is
likely going to become a pariah org no matter what happens. Any pretence
the FSF had of being the conscience of the broader FOSS movement is gone.
Nobody wins, but we in the community who struggle to attract diversity and
broader societal support will lose the worst. I hope someone out there
thinks the trade was worth it.

Conclusion:
<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=You%20either%20die%20a%20hero%2C%20or%20live%20long%20enough%20to%20see%20yourself%20become%20the%20villain.>
"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the
villain <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WfRcnF4iZI>" -- Harvey Dent.
<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=You%20either%20die%20a%20hero%2C%20or%20live%20long%20enough%20to%20see%20yourself%20become%20the%20villain.>

Cheers,

- Evan
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