His actions are reported to repeatedly exceed what is permissible without societal censure, regardless of the logic and/or reasoning behind them.
Knowing him is not necessary to react to him, and to tell stories of his actions to others.
I sure wouldn’t.
Tangentially: I better not see anyone here lionize Steve Jobs ever again, because he inflicted actual physical trauma on people. He didn’t just piss them off with his failure to recognize social cues.
Many incidents have occurred, enough to demonstrate that they’re a trend rather than “the first” one-off.
Many folks have noted that most people in Stallman’s position would have chose to learn to be better people to those around them.
He did not make that choice, and the result is that many stories told about him paint him in a severely negative light.
Please don’t use threats here; “I better not see anyone here [any action here]” has no place in this forum’s conversations.
Are people deliberately ignoring the fact that his guy is mentally ill? You're ascribing neurotypical social requirements to someone who is demonstrably not capable of them, and then acting surprised when he breaches said decorum.
>Please don’t use threats here; “I better not see anyone here [any action here]” has no place in this forum’s conversations.
Actually my comment seems well in line with the general tone of this thread - which is either intentionally misleading about what actually a happened or willfully arrogant and dismissive about how people who struggle with mental illness can respond to the modern sociopolitical environment and its "requirements".
In parenting, this phrase typically replaces ABC with “punish you”, “hit you”, “spank you”.
Your construction buries the implied violence of that phrase by leaving off the “or else”, but that does not resolve the inappropriateness of threatening “or else” on this forum.
Imagine that multiplied by all the someones that didn't do any of the things that had an awkward/offensive interaction with Stallman did those things.
These behaviours, ESPECIALLY by someone in such a influential position in our industry, have a chilling effect on every person they affected.
It really seems like they are inflicting it on themselves though. Stallman is not a gatekeeper.
Even justifiable concerns are just exactly that, justifiable concerns. If anything, it is the society that cannot behave however it wants but has an obligation to uphold justice. It needs to have a fair legal system as opposed to mob justice and to punish only genuine criminals as opposed to merely people with criminal reputation.