Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman (1953–) also known as RMS, is an American free software advocate and programmer. Stallman is associated with the GNU Project, the GNU Public License (GPL), and the Free Software Foundation (FSF), as well as developing the GNU Emacs text editor. Stallman is considered to have founded the free software movement when he began the FSF in 1983. He has struggled against private interests in the software industry for forty years and continues to advocate for his views.
Stallman's political beliefs could be characterized as idiosyncratically left-libertarian; in addition to his support for user freedoms, Stallman is a frequent critic of right-libertarianism[1] and modern bourgeois democracy,[2] maintaining that modern social issues stem from capitalistic ("plutocratic") influence over the state rather than from the state form itself. However, Stallman has also stated that "profit is not wrong in itself" and "free software combines some capitalist ideas, some socialist ideas and some anarchist ideas. So it doesn’t fit into the usual political spectrum."[3] On his personal blog, Stallman insistently refers to police as "thugs". Stallman is an associate and advocate of journalist Julian Assange.
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Controversy
Stallman has been well known for decades to have a tendency to use pedantic language, often in a tactless manner. Many who have known Stallman personally have described his behavior as "borderline autistic" or akin to Asperger's syndrome.[4][5][6] Stallman himself has acknowledged the similarities but disputes this informal diagnosis.[4] In any case, his social ineptitude has been used against him to create controversy, particularly by his opponents in the tech industry.[5]
Statements concerning Jeffrey Epstein
In September 2019, Stallman resigned from MIT and the Free Software Foundation[7] after a Medium post[8] titled "Remove Richard Stallman" publicized emails written by Stallman concerning repeat sex trafficker and rapist Jeffrey Epstein. The post includes the following quotation in which Stallman defends the late tech pioneer Marvin Minsky, accused of raping Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's trafficked victims, at Epstein's private island:[9]
The reference reports the claim that Minsky had sex with one of Epstein’s harem. Let’s presume that was true (I see no reason to disbelieve it). The word "assaulting" presumes that he applied force or violence, in some unspecified way, but the article itself says no such thing. Only that they had sex. We can imagine many scenarios, but the most plausible scenario is that she presented herself to him as entirely willing. Assuming she was being coerced by Epstein, he would have had every reason to tell her to conceal that from most of his associates.[8]
Stallman's statement gives Minsky the benefit of the doubt, arguing that Minsky himself may or may not have been aware of the coercion involved given Epstein may have forced Giuffre to "present herself" as a willing participant. However, reporting around the incident claimed that he had characterized several or all victims involved as "entirely willing".[10] When a student pointed out that the victim had been 17, Stallman replied that it was "morally absurd to define 'rape' in a way that depends on minor details such as which country it was in or whether the victim was 18 years old or 17."[8]
In response to the controversy, Stallman stated that "the coverage totally mischaracterised my statment. Headlines say that I defended Epstein. Nothing could be further from the truth.... I’ve called him a ‘serial rapist’, and said he deserved to be imprisoned. But many people now believe I defended him – and other inaccurate claims – and feel a real hurt because of what they believe I said. I’m sorry for that hurt. I wish I could have prevented the misunderstanding."[7] The scandal reopened discussion around previous controversies, including alleged misogyny and controversial statements about pronoun use (see below).
Pronouns
Stallman has been criticized by multiple groups for his erratic stance on pronoun use. However, as Stallman has made clear, his actual statements are unrelated to gender identity or expression and instead stem from his obsession with language use and precision in order to avoid confusion in writing:
I respect a person's choice of gender identification by using the pronouns and words that go with it. "Person" (or "perse"), "per", and "pers" [Stallman's proposed neo-pronouns] are gender-neutral; they respect any gender identification, just as completely as singular "they" would do. I would not presume to dictate to other people what pronouns they should use in their speech, but we can all state our preferences and the reasons behind them. As for "they", if you are plural by nature — for instance, if you are a colonial organism or a group mind, or if you wish to be known for having multiple personalities — I will use that plural pronoun to refer to you.[11]
See also
References
- ↑ "Glossary: Laissez-mourir". Richard Stallman's Personal Page. 2022-02-05. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
- ↑ "Why We Need A State". Richard Stallman's Personal Page. 2013-12-16. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
- ↑ Srinivasan, Sriram (2012-02-13). "The Stallman philosophy". Economic Times Blog. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tennant, Don (6 Oct 2008). "Asperger's Oxymoron". Computerworld. Retrieved 3 Apr 2024.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Page 2". PCLinuxOS Magazine. 16 Sep 2019. Retrieved 3 Apr 2024.
- ↑ "Free as in Freedom (2002)/Chapter 5". Wikisource, the free online library. 26 May 2000. Retrieved 3 Apr 2024.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Victoria Bekiempis (September 17, 2019). "MIT scientist resigns over emails discussing academic linked to Epstein" The Guardian
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 G., Selam (12 Sep 2019). "Remove Richard Stallman: And everyone else horrible in tech". Medium. Retrieved 3 Apr 2024.
- ↑ Brandom, Russell (9 Aug 2019). "AI pioneer accused of having sex with trafficking victim on Jeffrey Epstein's island". The Verge. Retrieved 3 Apr 2024.
- ↑ Jr, Edward Ongweso (13 Sep 2019). "Famed Computer Scientist Richard Stallman Described Epstein Victims As 'Entirely Willing'". VICE. Retrieved 3 Apr 2024.
- ↑ "Better Genderless Pronouns in English: We can make English gender-neutral while respecting agreement of number". Richard Stallman's Personal Page. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
External links
- Stallman.org, Stallman's personal site
- Free as in Freedom , 2002 biography of Stallman available on Wikisource under a GNU Free Documentation License