Neurodivergence and Accountability in Free Software | Hacker News Reader

Neurodivergence and Accountability in Free Software

drewdevault.com

23 pointsals06 comments

I've always liked Drew, but I must admit these articles are wearing me down.

The tech-capable, opinionated Drew of yore is being eaten by the hyper-online new Drew, who seems to be perpetually caught up in some social media outrage or another. Neat blog posts about OSdev and compilers have given way to armchair psychology about celebrities, animated by Mastodon-based arguments that fundamentally make no sense - and are of no interest - to anyone not on social media.

Is Stallman neurodivergent? (1) You're not even remotely equipped to answer this question, Drew, and (2) in what way does this matter? In as far as Stallman says stupid nonsense about consent, he is wrong. People express stupid opinions all the time.

Were someone to defend Stallman's stupid opinions because he is claimed to be neurodivergent, this is irrelevant, his opinions remain bad. It's important to remain compassionate to people with bad opinions, no matter their origin, but this does not extend to any level of acceptance or approval of said opinions.

Were Stallman to do something illegal, and were someone to defend it because he is claimed to be neurodivergent, this is likewise irrelevant, in as far as 'neurodivergence' is not generally sufficient to constitute a criminal defence of mental illness in most jurisdictions. Particularly when the diagnosing physician is... blogs?

Absolutely none of this debate is meaningful. None of this is effecting meaningful social or political change. None of this is making the world a better place. The vast majority of the world does not know or care what Mastodon discusses, and the only outcomes of said discussion are anger and sadness amongst the participants, and the diversion of focus and energy that could have been used for - say - volunteering, or actual meaningful social advocacy.

Thanks Drew for documenting this. I see more and more people excusing their violent behavior on the grounds of calling themselves “neurodivergent“. The worst thing about that is that it works. Please watch out for these dynamics, and speak up. Verbal and psychological violence should not be accepted, regardless of mental conditions or gender or kink.

I hope Drew continues this and writes about the spreading problem of reactive and narcissistic abuse. A growing number of people seem to enjoy driving others by psychological manipulation to the point where they explode once in defense, to then get them removed on the grounds of the obvious Code of Conduct violation. This is an actively exploited 0day in most CoCs. There should always be the possibility for professional mediation, for both accuser and accused. And the one who refuses to participate in it should be asked to stay away until they are ready for the mediation. You should also not simply ban anyone for life for single violations, but provide a clear path back. The whole thing is being abused way too easily.

Interpersonal violence is a disease that needs to be eradicated. And that can only happen if you speak up and find allies when you see something happening. The victims themselves usually cannot.

I think the problem is looking at ND as an excuse rather than a reason to change intervention strategies.

Like...yeah, he had a problematic position. He got corrected and someone explained to him the problem and he reversed his position[0].

That's...how people grow.

[0] https://www.engadget.com/2019-09-17-rms-fsf-mit-epstein.html

The original article mentions how this is an example of him doubling down. Stallman makes it very clear that he doesn’t consider 12yo+ “children”.

Your cited source is not really a good view of the situation. He did not reverse his position at all on the Minsky/Epstein issue (and the article quotes Stallman doubling down on this, saying he's resigning over "a series of misunderstandings and mischaracterizations" of himself), and he was re-instated at the FSF without ever providing a meaningful apology or a reversal of any of his problematic positions. Following his reinstatement he has continued to maintain and advocate for problematic political views regarding sexual assault, and he has never meaningfully retracted his views on child sexual abuse or apologized for anything he has ever said.

Fair enough. Sigh.

I can't help but wonder if the initial blowblack didn't cause some amount of oppositional defiance. or if the FSF just can't operate without him or the inverse. Kind of his life's work.

Not excusing his behavior, just trying to understand it (without putting in enough effort to really understand it, I suppose). I guess I still have to hope that there's some plausible explanation beyond "he's a shitty person".

Maybe there's room for a new foundation for anyone that wanted to pick up the torch. Aside from that, I'm not really sure what there is to do.

Thanks for defending the ND world.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com