Monday, March 29, 2021

RMS Where to start

 So, for the record, I welcome Richard M. Stallman back to the board (or is that bored) of directors of the FSF.   Cancel Culture Witch hunts are simply bad policy, and it is absurd to try to get the entire board to resign because you don't like the leader.  

This doesn't mean in anyway that I support most of the (non free-software related, or even sometimes free software related) opinions of RMS, think he has the best manners(lol), or think he hasn't done plenty of annoying things to offend people.

He can be abrasive personally, and I understand people not wanting to hang around a rant face, even if he does spend a lot of time on the free software movement.  On the other hand, he stands out in peoples minds, and you will find him quite memorable, a good quality for activism. 

There has been a lot of concern over canceling leaders in the open source and free software movements.  Linus Torvolds had to clean up his act on the Linux Kernel (and then someone said more DRM was added.) Eric Raymond got kicked out of OSI (that is now a defunct corporate shell of its former self.  In light of all this, the attacks on Richard Stallman and the board of the FSF is not an isolated incident.  

I figure if I write a post on this current hot button issue, my project and blog and everything will just get a whole lot more attention because RMS and the FSF (and the resulting drama) seems to be the main issue people care about these days.  Its sad that actual news about freedom respecting software often gets ignored in favor of celebrity gossip, but it is like that everywhere, and RMS has certainly put in his time to get media attention, deserved or not.