This seems to be happening more and more – people calling in the media and on social media for people to be sacked or forced to resign, because of something that they've said which is painted as highly offensive (and let's not try to steelman people or read them charitably or with careful attention to the context, let's just assume whatever the headline says they said is what they said.) And then, rather than standing up with courage to the media mob, people fold and give in to them.
I see what has happened to Stallman as just the latest instance of this disturbing cultural pattern.
The FSF should consider, that while Stallman's departure will please some, there will be others who will view it as injustice and another victory for the mob. This event doesn't increase the standing of the FSF in my eyes, it reduces it, and I'm sure I'm not the only person who sees things this way. (But, fearing the mob ourselves, we aren't going to put our names to our opinions.)
Power management, mobile and firmware developer on Linux. Security developer at nvidia. Ex-biologist. Content here should not be interpreted as the opinion of my employer. Also on Mastodon and Bluesky.
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The mob
Date: 2019-09-17 09:58 am (UTC)I see what has happened to Stallman as just the latest instance of this disturbing cultural pattern.
The FSF should consider, that while Stallman's departure will please some, there will be others who will view it as injustice and another victory for the mob. This event doesn't increase the standing of the FSF in my eyes, it reduces it, and I'm sure I'm not the only person who sees things this way. (But, fearing the mob ourselves, we aren't going to put our names to our opinions.)