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Comment by rpd9803 | Hacker News Reader

But something something something Aspergers something picking feet something

What evidence can you present that Richard Stallman has Aspergers?

I think he means in jest that people have constantly talked about Stallman's quirks that are honestly gross but shouldn't take away from what he says regarding technology.

His "quirks" are what harms his message. The same could be said for his long-time collaborator ESR who has some quirks that are beyond eating shit from his feet.

You want a spokesperson for something they better be worthy of respect. That's their primary function. It's not being a sage of truth.

People listen to those they respect, and his behaviour at times is so out of line that he spends more time destroying his credibility than communicating.

People sometimes are just thick, focusing on "quirks" instead of the content.

I get that people might disagree with his views, but why would they think he's not worthy of respect?

People don't like his views so they look to his quirks as proof that he is crazy and not merely misguided. Thus they can dismiss his followers as crazy too instead of having to own up to the fact that many of their colleagues worthy of respect believe in a world view fundamentally different from them.

> You want a spokesperson for something they better be worthy of respect.

You want people talking with the spokesperson be rather worthy of being treated respectfully by the spokesperson. People who put the medium (Stallman) above the message clearly aren't.

The thing is that I don't see Stallman as the PR arm of FL/OSS. He's just a more notable contributor and advocate. And that doesn't always mean you get someone who's slick and sharp. Besides, you have Brendan Eich (despite my own issues with his politics, he's a damn good advocate for a free web) so it's not like Stallman is the end all be all of free software advocates.

Exhibit A: Richard Stallman.

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