John Sullivan resign as executive director of the Free Software Foundation
I&#x27;m creating a throwaway that I hope won&#x27;t irk dang. If this breaks the rules, I&#x27;m sorry and I&#x27;ll stop.<p>Richard Stallman single-handedly created the free software movement, and he&#x27;s the reason we all have jobs. Google and Facebook might not have been possible in a world where you couldn&#x27;t spin up a server for free and compile code without paying a license.<p>Richard Stallman has said some sexist and edgy things. He also has Asperger&#x27;s, which poses challenges many of us do not face. He hasn&#x27;t, as far as I know, committed any crimes.<p>Do we destroy the pillar we&#x27;ve built our entire livelihoods upon to satisfy a mob?<p>Have all of us been truly without blame? Who hasn&#x27;t said something they shouldn&#x27;t have? Or done something that marginalized someone at some point in time (even if it wasn&#x27;t on the basis of sex, gender, race, etc.)?<p>I don&#x27;t want to live in a world without American freedom of speech - where we can&#x27;t be blunt and speak our minds.<p>I don&#x27;t want to live in a world where we can&#x27;t be forgiven.<p>I was reading comments in another HN thread, and one poster suggested that this might arise from raising kids without bullying. Like the immune system, if we don&#x27;t develop a central tolerance, perhaps we start attacking everything we find unpleasant? No basis in behavioral science, of course.<p>And then there&#x27;s the engagement-driven social media monster. Twitter, in particular. It&#x27;s destroying careers.<p>We&#x27;re badgering the members of the FSF. We&#x27;re denying Richard Stallman any chances.<p>This isn&#x27;t good. It&#x27;s horrific.<p>What do we do about this?