Re: Support RMS

[Thomas Lord <lord@basiscraft.com>]

> "Things have been different with RMS. He has consistently stood out for
years with bad behavior."

Simply repeating that lie will not make it true.

Stop wasting everyone's time.

-t


On 2021-03-26 11:44, Florian Snow wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I appreciate the calm, measured voices I've heard here.  I would also
> like to take some of the heat out of this discussion and contribute my
> point of view.  I usually just lurk here, not sure since when.  I've
> been donating to and volunteering for different Free Software groups 
> for
> many years now, mainly the big ones, the FSF, the FSFE, and the SFC.
> But of course I don't speak for any of them.  I am quite disheartened 
> by
> the current situation, because I would have liked to have seen a
> different development overall. I was happy at first when I heard that
> Richard Stallman was speaking at Libreplanet. I had the impression that
> it might work out similarly to what happened with Linus Torvalds, who
> took some time off, reflected on his behavior, and then came back with 
> a
> changed attitude. As far as I know that worked well, but I don't know
> all the details about how it's going now.
> 
> Things have been different with RMS. He has consistently stood out for
> years with bad behavior. I don't mean the things that are mentioned
> again and again in certain news outlets. Those articles do often at
> least lack context (although even the context does not make these
> instances problem-free). But there is other problematic behavior. For
> example, it harms our movement if at events about Free Software, RMS
> also remarks on completely unrelated topics which offend people. And
> it's unnecessary because it doesn't advance software freedom.  But even
> if you ignore all that, there are still problematic things. For
> instance, RMS acting annoyed and aggressive when people accidentally 
> use
> a wrong term. And yes, I have also personally experienced the exact
> opposite, where he reacted very friendly to those mistakes, but those
> things don't cancel each other out. And that behavior also scares off
> people who are new to our movement, who don't know everything yet, but
> are enthusiastic about the cause and want to learn. It's a problem that
> they run the risk of being yelled at for making a mistake. It's also a
> problem when people who help RMS with something are completely ignored
> and get the impression in the interaction that they as a person don't
> matter at all, it's just that he just needs an alarm clock or a pen or
> whatever and nothing else matters. And you can explain some of these
> behaviors to him and then sometimes something changes. But the change
> usually remains very limited in scope and in similar cases the behavior
> doesn't change. And yes, I have a strong urge to excuse such things,
> because RMS is just so focused on the matter and maybe without a 
> certain
> stubbornness this whole movement would not exist. And yes, I know other
> sides of him, where he is extremely kind to people and brings them
> gifts. But even there, the good behavior does not cancel out the bad,
> especially because it relates to different people. All of this has been
> hurting us for a long time because it turns people away from our
> community.
> 
> But even if you disregard all that, there are still more problems. 
> Let's
> assume that all of RMS's statements that other people found problematic
> were just misunderstandings. Personally, if someone tells me "Hey, what
> you just said upsets me" or something like that, my first reaction is
> "Oh, I'm sorry about that." And then I try to avoid that in the
> future. You can often say things in a less confrontational way, and you
> don't always have to share every thought with every person. You can 
> also
> sometimes say nothing (even if it's hard - I know this from
> myself). With RMS, though, the answer too often was "What I said was
> right because."  or "There's no need to get upset because my assertion
> is right for those reasons." That may all be true, but even when
> interpreted in an extremely positive way, that is at the very least an
> extremely poor communication style.
> 
> And if I repeatedly offend people with the same problematic statements,
> and this is also completely unnecessary because it has nothing to do
> with my mission of advancing Free Software, then at some point the
> question arises as to whether these things are still compatible. If I
> have such a high profile position, I have to keep some ideas to myself,
> also because otherwise I harm the cause. Or if I absolutely want to say
> these things, then perhaps I should give up this leadership position so
> as not to harm the cause. And to arrive at this conclusion, I already
> interpreted a lot of things in a very favorable way.
> 
> At some point, however, there comes a time where you have to ask
> yourself whether someone who repeatedly makes statements that hurt
> others isn't making these statements his own, no matter if it is meant
> that way. For example (deliberately choice of something RMS is not
> accused of): if someone repeatedly uses racist phrases or words, even
> after it is pointed out to him, doesn't he at least at some point make
> these racist statements his own, even if it is not meant that way?
> That's exactly how it is in the case of RMS, unfortunately.
> 
> Now, as I said, this was all against the backdrop of favorable
> interpretations and an isolated view of the various problems. In
> practice, however, these problems have a combined effect and deter
> people who want to work with us. That cannot be the goal. And if the
> announcement of RMS's return shows no self-reflection at all, but only
> "some of you will be happy about this and some will be disappointed, 
> but
> who knows. In any case, that's how it is. And I'm not planning to 
> resign
> a second time" then that definitely falls short of acceptable
> behavior. You can't treat people like that.
> 
> That's why I support statements such as the one we made at the FSFE or
> the one the EFF made. It is tough to make such a statement, because it
> is not an easy topic. But at some point you just have to admit that it
> doesn't matter for what reason someone hurts other people. If it 
> happens
> once, ok, that's human, but if it happens over and over again, then it
> doesn't matter if that person can't do better or doesn't want to do
> better. The person is then simply unsuitable for such a leadership 
> role,
> no matter what the other merits are. Merit does not cancel out bad
> behavior. And it breaks my heart that there was no other outcome. Those
> who know me know that I can never give up on a person and I do what I
> can to make amends.  I was hoping so hard to have a joint future, but
> for that to happen, RMS would have had to change his behavior as well
> and admit a problem. At this point, as much as it pains me, I have to
> draw a line and clearly state that this behavior, no matter the reasons
> behind it, is unacceptable, and this, in turn, has an effect on
> organizations that support it.
> 
> I think there are other people who have done the Free Software movement
> and RMS personally a huge disservice by backing to go along with this.
> But this goes beyond RMS and his future.  I want him to understand and
> if he asks me, I will explain what I think the problem.  But I also
> think of all the people out there who were put off and didn't 
> contribute
> to our cause or perhaps even started to work against it.  That makes 
> our
> community weaker as a whole and we need to work on that.
> 
> Happy hacking!
> Florian
> 
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