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Comment by kprobst | Hacker News Reader

One of these days it's going to be for real and I wonder how many of his fans will be enraged when someone says something like "I'm not glad he's dead, but I'm glad he's gone".

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Why would people even hate Richard Stallman, anyway?

It's perfectly OK to attack his ideologies but I don't see why you'd hate him personally as if he's some villain that is hurting people in some way or another. The guy is merely advocating his ideals. He's not enforcing them. He's not dominating any markets and enforcing his ideologies on people. He's not profiting of his ideologies. He doesn't even enjoy any power. If you don't like him, you can easily ignore him. You won't be affected.

He influences others with his (IMHO poisonous ideology). For some bizarre reason, some people listen to his mad rhetoric. That's why others dislike him.

IMHO, he hurts several things. He hurts free software, and he hurts the software industry as a whole.

I have never considered your point of view and I am curious about it. Can you explain why you think his ideology is poisonous? Also how can it be possible that he's hurting the free software movement, when I thought he CREATED the free software movement.

He created the free software movement in the same way that Douglas Crockford created JSON. eg he didn't.

Consider the possibility there may be an afterlife and they both will have to endure each other for eternity.

I'd die just to watch it.

If someone's able to make a decent case as to why rms being out of the picture makes the world a better place, they should totally be able to say that if it's their opinion. If they're just being a dick then yes, that will be annoying.

Not that many, he doesn't have a marketing department.

Is that the sound of Dave Winer deleting the comments?

All of them. It's been my experience that Stallman fans refuse to deal with even fair criticism of him. That aside, I hope no one says that about him or anyone else ever. I have a lot of problems with Stallman and his ideology but when he dies I hope we can all take the high road. We may think it's the man we don't like but it's really his actions and beliefs we have a problem with and when a well respected public figure like him dies it's just common decency not spit on his grave like that. When someone dies you should get past all the negativity you hold for a person and remember their humanity. To some he may have been an asshole in life but in death we're reminded that the deceased had family they loved, hopes and dreams, and changed people's lives in a small way just by having lived and interacted with others. I was one of the people who was outraged by what he said when Steve Jobs died but I'll forgive it when Stallmam goes because of what I just said earlier. Let's hope he's alright and take the high road.

By the way, "he did not, for example, have a heart attack". Really? There are no confirmed details but he definitely didn't have a heart attack? Well are there confirmed details or not? If he didn't have a heart attack then there's at least one confirmed detail, right? Why the need to clarify that one point? I'm not saying its a lie but whenever someone tells me "I don't know what happened but I know this one thing didnt happen" they're either guessing or hiding something.

It amazes me that Stallman is viewed in this way. Steve Jobs was undeniably an asshole to many .. and Steve Jobs' fans refuse to deal with even fair criticism of him.

There's a strange warped perspective at play.

You're missing the point and rushing to defend someone I'm not trying to insult. I never said or implied Jobs fans aren't the same. The point is that when someone dies or has something bad happen to them saying something like "I'm not glad he's dead but I'm glad he's gone" is like spitting on their grave and in such times we should remember that they were human like you or me and forget our petty grievances out of respect. When someone like Stallman dies it reminds us of our own mortality as would anyone's death. I'd hope no one was a dick about it "because Stallman said this and that about Jobs after he died" or "because he promoted some awful ideology" or something like that. I don't even like Stallman but when someone has a health crisis or dies you don't celebrate it no matter who they are. It's just common decency. Don't make this a Stallmam V. Whoever comparison.

I find the way many people talk about Stallman to be patronising and bitter. I believe this is partly just because he's fighting against the current, whereas a person like Jobs oiled the wheels of capitalism. Stallman has a huge positive effect on the world, it's a shame any recognition will need to be balanced against so much negativity.

That's not a detail. And that's not confirmed, that's denied.

We may think it's the man we don't like but it's really his actions and beliefs

(Shrug) I am my actions and beliefs. There's nothing else to me. I don't know about Stallman, though.

Come on man. You know what I mean. What we know about Stallman isn't all he was. If you judge him by his work with the FSF alone then you're not even close to being able to judge who he was as a person and that's what I'm getting at. Don't be pedantic.

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