Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech
Read the emails.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.documentcloud.org&#x2F;documents&#x2F;6405929-09132019142056-0001.html#document&#x2F;p20" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.documentcloud.org&#x2F;documents&#x2F;6405929-091320191420...</a><p>Then come back and read what I have to say.<p>There was nothing offensive or controversial in there. Not a one. The man only pushed to avoid letting the narrative people wanted to believe run away with the reputation of a friend (Minsky) before all the facts were in.<p>He&#x27;s endorsing to let the justice system do it&#x27;s work instead of letting a near tabloid level effort of the media hang a man&#x27;s reputation out to dry. He&#x27;s even willing to accept wrongdoing <i>if that is what the facts spell out</i>. He also asks the more extreme poster to the mailing list to provide evidence that it seems he is incapable of uncovering due to his commitment to only using Free Software.<p>If he&#x27;s guilty of anything, it&#x27;s being overconfident of the rationality of others in a world so tormented by those willing to turn even a hint of inconvenient independent thought into a sign of some disfigurement of one&#x27;s essential humanity.<p>There are people out there who pose a threat to civil society and deserve civil&#x2F;social ostracization. Richard Stallman is not the one in this case, as is evidenced by a willingness on his part to have his mind changed.<p>The media, if anyone, deserves to be ostracized for not actually digging into and presenting the original posts, and picking and choosing only the most controversial aspects of the man that weave the best narrative to draw clicks. If they had done their job, this would have been a non-story, as it would be clear the man was calling for calm in a discussion where passions were running high.<p>The FSF, and MIT handled the entire thing poorly. Instead of investigating, and not doing anything hastily, they caved to engineered histrionics, and also failed to demonstrate a bare modicum of scrutiny to establish the facts of the matter, or reach out to correct the media. Essentially they prioritized distance and public perception over ensuring the truth was known. Both proved to have betrayed fundamental principles that their respective institutions were set up to protect.