Mob Mentality Threatens The Free Software Movement

Summary

El script aborda la controversia en torno al regreso de Richard Stallman a la Free Software Foundation, desencadenando debates en la comunidad de software libre y tecnológica. Stallman, fundador del movimiento, regresa como miembro del consejo tras su renuncia forzosa como presidente por comentarios polémicos sobre el escándalo de Jeffrey Epstein. El video critica la cultura del 'cancel culture' y defiende la importancia de la perdón y la adaptación en lugar de la destrucción de reputaciones. Anima a la Free Software Foundation a mostrar valentía y continuar luchando por los ideales de software libre, derechos digitales y privacidad, sin ceder ante la presión de la opinión pública.

Takeaways

• 😐 Richard Stallman ha regresado a la Fundación del Software Libre, pero no como presidente, sino como miembro del consejo.
• 😠 Stallman fue obligado a dimitir como presidente hace aproximadamente un año y medio debido a comentarios controversiales sobre el escándalo de Jeffrey Epstein y Marvin Minsky.
• 🔍 MIT lo despidió por esos comentarios, que mantenían vivo el escándalo en el que estaba involucrada la universidad.
• 🤔 La comunidad del software libre y la tecnología está dividida sobre su regreso, lo que indica una lucha interna significativa.
• 🗣️ El narrador del script no apoya la 'cultura de cancelación', argumentando que impide el perdón y la reformación personal.
• 🤨 Se cuestiona la validez de las críticas de Stallman, sugiriendo que algunos críticos son más bigotes y misóginos que él.
• 📄 Se menciona una petición en GitHub llamada 'rms-open-letter', que busca el辞职 de todos los miembros del consejo de la Fundación del Software Libre.
• 👎 Se argumenta que muchos de los firmantes de la petición no están relacionados con el movimiento del software libre y, en algunos casos, desean su fracaso.
• 💬 Se critica la conducta de algunos miembros de la comunidad, como Coraline Ada Emke y la Fundación GNOME, por ser particularmente negativos y hostiles.
• 🛡️ El narrador insta a la Fundación del Software Libre a mostrar valentía, ignorar a los trolls y a los protestantes, y mantenerse fiel a sus ideales.
• 🌐 Sugiere que la Fundación del Software Libre necesita adaptarse mejor al mundo moderno, utilizando plataformas populares para comunicar su mensaje.

Q & A

¿Qué conflicto está ocurriendo actualmente en la comunidad del software libre?

Actualmente, hay una disputa significativa dentro de la comunidad del software libre y el movimiento tecnológico en torno a la vuelta de Richard Stallman a la Fundación del Software Libre.

¿Por qué tuvo que dimitir Richard Stallman del cargo de presidente de la Fundación del Software Libre?

Richard Stallman tuvo que dimitir debido a comentarios desafortunados que hizo hace aproximadamente 18 meses sobre Jeffrey Epstein y Marvin Minsky, lo que llevó a que MIT lo despidiera y a que la Fundación del Software Libre se distanciara de él.

¿Qué es la 'cultura de cancelación' y cómo se relaciona con el caso de Richard Stallman?

La 'cultura de cancelación' se refiere a la tendencia de someter a la cancelación a personas con opiniones o acciones desagradables, como perder su trabajo o ser expulsado de organizaciones. En el caso de Stallman, algunos sectores lo han criticado y buscado su cancelación por sus comentarios pasados.

¿Por qué la comunidad del software libre debería preocuparse por la 'cultura de cancelación'?

La 'cultura de cancelación' va en contra de los valores del software libre, que promueven el diálogo, el cambio de mentalidades y la libertad, en lugar de la censura y la destrucción de las voces disidentes.

¿Qué es el movimiento 'Ethical Source' y cómo se relaciona con el movimiento del software libre?

El movimiento 'Ethical Source' es una propuesta de licenciamiento de software que permite a los creadores decidir quién puede usar su software basándose en factores demográficos y personales. Se opone al movimiento del software libre, que promueve la libertad de uso, modificación y distribución del software.

¿Qué es la petición en 'rms-open-letter.github.io' y qué demanda?

Es una petición en línea destinada a forzar la renuncia de todos los miembros de la junta directiva de la Fundación del Software Libre, quienes据称 'permitieron' la vuelta de Richard Stallman, según los firmantes de la petición.

¿Por qué la petición mencionada podría ser vista como un intento de acabar con la Fundación del Software Libre y el movimiento del software libre?

La petición busca no solo la salida de Richard Stallman sino de toda la junta, lo que podría debilitar gravemente o incluso desmantelar la organización, dado que muchos de los firmantes no están vinculados con el movimiento del software libre y algunos incluso lo critican.

¿Qué sugiere el guionista para que haga la Fundación del Software Libre en respuesta a la situación actual?

El guionista sugiere que la Fundación ignore las protestas y se centre en lograr victorias concretas en la lucha por el software libre, la privacidad digital y los derechos digitales, mostrando valentía y adherencia a sus ideales.

¿Qué tipo de actitud se refleja en aquellos que firman la petición por 'movimiento de manada' y cómo se relaciona con la cultura de cancelación?

El 'movimiento de manada' refleja una actitud de seguir la corriente sin cuestionar, donde las personas firman sin una comprensión profunda de la situación, motivadas por el temor de ser excluidas socialmente, lo que se alinea con la cultura de cancelación que busca aislamiento y castigo por desacuerdos.

¿Cómo el guionista ve la situación actual en relación con la comunicación y la adaptación del movimiento del software libre al mundo moderno?

El guionista considera que el movimiento del software libre necesita mejorar su comunicación y adaptarse al mundo moderno sin cambiar su mensaje fundamental, llegando a las plataformas donde se encuentra la mayoría de las personas para difundir su mensaje.

¿Por qué el guionista insta a los miembros de la Fundación del Software Libre a no ceder ante la presión de la 'cultura de cancelación'?

Porque el guionista cree que ceder ante esta presión va en contra de los principios del software libre, que promueven la libertad y la resistencia a la opresión, y que la única forma de luchar es manteniendo estos ideales y no comprometiéndolos.

Outlines

00:00

😠 Controversia sobre la reincorporación de Richard Stallman

Este párrafo aborda la reciente polémica en la comunidad de software libre y de código abierto, causada por el regreso de Richard Stallman a la Fundación del Software Libre. Se menciona que Stallman ha sido readmitido como miembro del consejo, pero no como presidente, tras su renuncia forzosa hace un año y medio debido a comentarios controversiales sobre el escándalo de Jeffrey Epstein. El narrador expresa su desacuerdo con la cultura del 'cancel culture', que busca silenciar a aquellos con opiniones desfavorables, y critica a aquellos que buscan eliminar a personas como Stallman sin considerar la posibilidad de cambio o discusión.

05:00

🤔 Críticas y posiciones de los opositores a Stallman

El segundo párrafo se enfoca en las críticas de personajes clave que han firmado una petición para que todos los miembros de la junta directiva de la Fundación del Software Libre renuncien, alegando que 'habilitan' a Stallman. Se mencionan nombres de individuos y organizaciones que, según el narrador, no tienen un verdadero interés en el movimiento del software libre y que en algunos casos desean su fracaso. El hablante sugiere que muchas de estas críticas están motivadas por emociones y prejuicios políticos, más que por argumentos racionales.

10:00

😡 Análisis de las acusaciones y la actitud de los críticos

Este segmento del guion examina las acusaciones de bigotería, misoginia y transfobia hechas contra Stallman y compara su conducta con la de sus críticos. El narrador argumenta que, aunque Stallman ha cometido errores, muchos de los que lo critican son en realidad más odiosos y tóxicos en sus expresiones en redes sociales. Se enfatiza la importancia de la objetividad y la capacidad de respetar las convicciones de uno sin caer en la hostilidad y la propagación de odio.

15:02

💪 El llamado a la valentía y la resistencia a la cultura del 'cancel'

El cuarto párrafo hace un llamado a la valentía y a la resistencia a la presión de la cultura del 'cancel'. El narrador expresa su respeto por Stallman por su consistencia y su capacidad de mantenerse alegre y sin rencor a pesar de los ataques continuos. Aconseja a la Fundación del Software Libre que ignore las protestas y demuestre valentía al tomar decisiones basadas en sus principios, en lugar de ceder ante la presión de la opinión pública.

20:02

🌐 La necesidad de adaptación y transparencia para el movimiento del software libre

El último párrafo destaca la necesidad de que la Fundación del Software Libre se adapte al mundo moderno, mejorando su comunicación y utilizando plataformas populares para difundir su mensaje. El narrador critica la dependencia exclusiva de Stallman como rostro del movimiento y sugiere que la Fundación debe ser más transparente y honesta con sus miembros y la comunidad. Finalmente, anima a los miembros a luchar por los ideales del software libre y a los no miembros a unirse a la lucha.

Keywords

💡Free Software Foundation

La Free Software Foundation (FSF) es una corporación sin fines de lucro fundada en 1985 por Richard Stallman con el objetivo de promover el software libre, es decir, programas informáticos que pueden ser modificados y compartidos libremente. La FSF ha sido una entidad clave en la promoción y educación sobre la importancia de la libertad en el uso del software, y en la creación de la licencia pública general GNU (GPL), que es una de las licencias más utilizadas en el software libre.

💡GNU Project

El GNU Project, iniciado por Richard Stallman en 1983, tiene como objetivo desarrollar un sistema operativo Unix-compatible de software libre llamado GNU (GNU's Not Unix). Este proyecto es fundamental para el movimiento del software libre y ha permitido la creación de sistemas operativos como GNU/Linux, que son 100% de software libre.

💡Copyleft

Copyleft es un término utilizado para describir una licencia que permite a los usuarios la libertad de usar, estudiar, compartir y modificar un software, siempre que cualquier obra derivada también tenga las mismas libertades. Es una forma de proteger los derechos de los usuarios y asegurar que el software permanezca libre.

💡Software Libre

El software libre es un tipo de software que respeta la libertad de los usuarios para ejecutar, copiar, modificar y distribuir el programa, junto con la libertad de estudiar cómo funciona el programa y mejorarlo. Este tipo de software es fundamental para la construcción de una sociedad de aprendizaje en la que se comparte el conocimiento de manera que otros puedan construir y disfrutar.

💡Proprietary Software

El software propietario es aquel que restringe los derechos de los usuarios de copiar, modificar o distribuir el programa. A menudo, el software propietario incluye cláusulas en sus acuerdos de licencia que permiten a las corporaciones espionar las actividades del usuario y restringir el compartir con otros, representando un peligro inaceptable para una sociedad libre.

💡GNU General Public License (GPL)

La GNU GPL es una licencia de software que permite a los usuarios la libertad de ejecutar, estudiar, compartir y modificar el software, con la condición de que cualquier obra derivada también tenga que ser distribuida bajo los mismos términos de libertad. Es una de las licencias más populares dentro del movimiento del software libre.

💡GNU/Linux

GNU/Linux es el nombre que se le da al sistema operativo formado por el núcleo Linux y las utilidades del proyecto GNU. Aunque comúnmente se le conoce simplemente como Linux, el término GNU/Linux reconoce el trabajo del proyecto GNU y su importancia en la filosofía del software libre.

💡Software Freedom

La libertad de software es un concepto que se refiere a la capacidad de los usuarios para controlar completamente su computación, lo que incluye la libertad de usar, estudiar, compartir y modificar el software. La FSF celebra su 40 aniversario y continúa creciendo como un movimiento que promueve esta libertad fundamental en el uso del software.

💡Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman, fundador del GNU Project y de la Free Software Foundation, es una figura clave en el movimiento del software libre. Su visión y esfuerzos han sido fundamentales para la creación de un sistema operativo de software libre y la promoción de la filosofía del software libre como una forma de asegurar la libertad de los usuarios y la sociedad en general.

💡Open Source

Aunque el término 'open source' a menudo se usa interchangeably con 'software libre', el movimiento del software libre, encabezado por la FSF, se opone a la noción de 'open source' que fue acuñada en 1998 por aquellos que desacuerdan con los valores éticos del movimiento del software libre, promoviendo un enfoque amoral en el mismo campo.

Highlights

Richard Stallman has returned to the Free Software Foundation as a board member, not as president.

Stallman's return sparks controversy within the tech and open-source community due to past comments about Jeffrey Epstein and Marvin Minsky.

MIT fired Stallman over his comments, which kept the Epstein scandal in the spotlight, leading to pressure on the Free Software Foundation to distance themselves.

The speaker criticizes 'cancel culture' for its lack of forgiveness and mean-spiritedness, contrasting it with the free software movement's ideals.

A petition on GitHub aims to remove the entire board of the Free Software Foundation, not just Stallman, indicating a broader attack on the organization.

Many signatories of the petition are critics of the free software movement or have no involvement with it.

The speaker calls for ignoring the trolls and hateful protests, focusing instead on the principles of the free software movement.

Coraline Ada Emke, creator of the Ethical Source movement, is highlighted as an example of a vocal critic with a contrasting agenda.

The GNOME Foundation and the Open Source Initiative are mentioned as having members who are politically charged and critical of Stallman.

The speaker argues that the Free Software Foundation should make its decision to reinstate Stallman official and transparent.

The need for the Free Software Foundation to achieve real victories to overshadow the controversy is emphasized.

The speaker suggests that the Free Software Foundation should better adapt to modern communication methods to spread its message.

A call to support the Free Software Foundation and its ideals, encouraging non-members to join and contribute to the cause.

The speaker reflects on the importance of courage and sticking to one's ideals in the face of opposition and controversy.

The transcript concludes with a strong stance against compromise with those promoting hate and bigotry, urging to hold the line for free software and digital rights.

Transcripts

right now it looks like there's a major

fight

going on within the free software

community

and just the broader open source

community

and the tech community over the fact

that richard stallman is back richard

stallman is back at the free software

foundation

he says he is on the board of the free

software foundation he's not the

president

he was forced to resign as president of

the free software foundation about a

year and a half ago

and he wasn't a part of the free

software foundation in any official

capacity for the last year and a half

because of some unfortunate comments he

had made

about 18 months ago where he made some

comments about jeffrey epstein and

marvin minsky and the scandals

surrounding those particular individuals

on a mit mailing list

mit fired him from his job as a

professor at the university over those

comments because mit was

really wrapped up in the whole jeffrey

epstein scandal and they wanted that

story to go away

and by richard doing what he was doing

he was actually keeping that story alive

and mit was not very happy about that so

they fired

richard over those comments and then

there was pressure from the free

software foundation to also distance

themselves from richard

so they forced richard to resign his

position as president of the foundation

but now it looks like they're ready to

welcome him back into the fold not as

president again he's just a board member

right now but there's nothing to say

that richard couldn't become president

of the foundation again

in the near future now i don't want to

go back and rehash past events the

events that led up to richard being

fired from mit

and the free software foundation i did

videos about this stuff

you know 18 months ago and many many

other people made videos about this

story and wrote articles about this

story

it was big news at the time and

the one thing i will say is that i am

not

a fanboy of richard stallman as far as

just a blind fanboy that he can never do

wrong i've actually publicly criticized

richard stallman on a number of

occasions about things he said

and about things he's done sometimes

richard does put his foot in his mouth

sometimes richard puts

things in his mouth that used to be a

part of his foot but even though i've

been critical of richard in the past for

some things i've never wanted to cancel

richard right i'm not one of these

council culture

kinds of people that they find people

that they disagree with politically

and they have to shut that person up

right they have to get that person fired

from their job

or removed from their foundation or

project or whatever speaking platform

they have

they want to completely annihilate this

person destroy them

shut them up in a way they can never

speak to society again that is cancel

culture i don't

understand that because that is for one

thing it's very mean-spirited

and hateful all right these people that

are a part of the canceled movement

they are very angry and bitter and

negative people

and i think that is a rather poor way to

lead your life

the other thing that cancel culture

teaches is that there's no forgiveness

about anything right the minute you make

a mistake

you are forever shunned by everyone else

and that's that's wrong that's

completely antithetical to everything

that the free

software movement itself is about i mean

the free software movement is out there

trying to change hearts and minds as far

as

free software you know proprietary

licenses versus free licenses

and digital rights and digital privacy

and things like that

and if we can get companies like

microsoft and google and apple

to start changing some of their

proprietary services

over to free software man that's great

that's a win

but if we had the cancel culture

mentality then that mentality is

microsoft is evil they can never not be

evil

so why even preach the message of free

software to these people they can never

change

well that's stupid right that's that

makes no sense and that's the kind of

message these cancel culture people

have you know they're wanting to shut

people up because they think a certain

way that they disagree with

and instead of trying to maybe change

that person's minds

on this topic you just want to shut them

up entirely because you just assume well

he can never change well maybe the

person that needs to change

is you and if you thought the cancel

culture movement against richard 18

months ago was bad

what's going on today is even worse

they actually created an open source

project over on github it's a website

rms open dash letter dot github dot io

it's a petition to have everyone at the

free software foundation that's on the

board

removed from their position so they

don't want to just remove richard

because they disagree with richard

they want the entire board of the free

software foundation

being forced to resign because these

people quote

enable richard right so what this

is this is an effort to end the free

software foundation

and an effort to end the free software

movement and what what i find

funny is almost all of these people that

sign this petition

none of these people have anything to do

with the free software movement or the

free software foundation

anyway many of these people are open

critics of the free software movement

many of these people

actually want to see the free software

movement fail and they've been stating

this for years

so of course these people are signing

this petition against richard they i

doubt they really care

about any of the comments richard has

said in the past they just want the man

destroyed they want everybody on the

board of directors to

be forced to resign they want the free

software foundation to actually

be shut down going through a list of the

names of some of the people that have

signed the petition

i could have almost even before going to

the list and looking up

some of the names in that petition i

already knew some of the names that

would show up just from

the way some of these people act in

public the way they act on twitter

the way they act on reddit you know the

really negative

mean-spirited hateful bigoted kind of

people that

unfortunately exist in our community

most of those people you can go find

their names on that list i'm talking

about people like

coraline ada emke who is completely

out of her mind on twitter she is very

nasty mean-spirited and just a hateful

person she is the creator of the ethical

source movement the ethical source

movement

stands firmly against the free software

movement

so again of course she wants to see

everybody on the free software

foundation board resign

because she hates free software she

wants quote

ethical software that is a software

license where

the person that created that piece of

software can decide

who gets to run that piece of software

and who doesn't as far as based on

demographics whether i like that person

politically philosophically religiously

you know if i agree with you great you

can use my software if i disagree with

you in any way

you don't get to use my piece of

software that's coraline ada empty and

the ethical

source movement not to mention coraline

is

very politically activist in nature

so anything that's politically charged

her name is always going to be there

well

that's the first name that i looked up

when i went to that list

shockingly it was there neil mcgovern

and many of the people on the gnome

foundation was also a part of the list

the gnome foundation

has always been very politically charged

they have been very divisive they have

been

prejudicial and bigoted and some of the

language on their website and in their

code of conduct

not surprisingly most of the people that

are involved with the gnome foundation

are also on that list some other notable

people

many people that sit on the board at the

osi the open source initiative

their names are also on that list is

that a surprise

that the people that are on the open

source initiative board

are also against the free software

foundation open source

and free software they're not really the

same thing in many cases they are at

odds with each other

so of course a lot of the people that

are deeply invested

in open source are also against richard

and the free software foundation there's

nothing to see there not to mention

that the osi here in recent years has

also

been warming up to the idea of the

ethical source movement

and people like coraline ada emke i also

noticed many names from google including

chris debona who is google's director of

open source

he actually sits on the board at the

linux foundation

because google has seats at the linux

foundation chris

debona has that seat and the linux

foundation

is not invested in the open source

movement or the free software movement

i've made videos about this in the past

the director

of the linux foundation actually uses

mac he uses iphones and macbooks

and all of these pdf documents and

everything that you find on the linux

foundation website all of it was made on

macs

all of it was made using proprietary

software from the adobe suite

so those guys those guys don't matter

chris debona at google doesn't matter

none of the people at the linux

foundation matter

because again they're not even part of

the free software movement

so like 95 of the names on this petition

don't even matter because you're you're

not even a part of this thing

so why would we listen to you why would

anybody that

deeply cares about the ideals of free

software

care what people from gnome

and the osi and google and mozilla you

know moza there's plenty of people

from mozilla on the list as well mozilla

that wants to censor the internet yes

well yeah i'm sure they really don't

like richard and the free software

foundation and everything that those

guys fight for as far as

digital privacy and digital rights of

course mozilla is completely against

that

and then you've got a lot of people just

signing the list because of

mob mentality right once people start

adding their names to the list and the

list gets longer

then other people feel the need that

they have to sign it to they really

don't necessarily care

what richard did or didn't do they just

want to be

a part of this thing right they feel

like they need to be a part

of history in some way but one of the

things

is can you objectively look at some of

these people

and their criticisms of richard stallman

because i can

objectively look at some of what richard

has done and i can say

you know what i don't like that or that

was fine to me

i like i can i can separate myself again

i

personally i think richard's probably a

okay guy but has he done some

dumb things sure but can you guys also

take a look at these people that are

criticizing

richard stallman look at what these

people are tweeting

look at what these people are posting

over on reddit go read the twitter feed

for people like coraline ada emke

and other people like that these people

with the gnome foundation and mozilla

and all these the osi

and ask yourself these questions are

these people angry are these people

objective or are they completely run by

their emotions

are they mean-spirited are they nasty do

they have anything

rational to say in many cases that's not

actually the case they don't ever post

anything logical or rational or anything

based in fact it is

all uh just driven by emotion and it's

all

almost always politically charged what i

find

hilariously funny is many of the people

that criticize richard

they try to label him as a bigot as a

misogynist

as transphobic and many other things

but objectively speaking if you go look

at some of these critics

of richards go look at their twitter

feed

they say things that are far more

hateful bigoted

prejudicial than anything richard has

ever

uttered in his life and these people

sometimes are saying these kinds of

things

on a daily basis but they are the ones

calling for richard to be canceled

and when you compare richard to many of

his critics

one of the things i really respect about

richard is when he speaks

he does come across as genuine he sticks

to his convictions and you can tell he's

not being a troll

many of his critics you can't say that

because many of his critics are

obviously just there for the trolling

they are there because they're fueled by

hate and many of them are fueled by

religious or political

indoctrination and they've been

programmed

to hate richard and people like richard

and even though i've been critical of

richard stallman one thing i will never

do

one thing ideologically i will never do

i will

never side with anybody that promotes

hate

and that's what critics of richard

stallman are doing

many of these people are actually

actively promoting

hate and bigotry and racism and just all

kinds of nasty things

these people are just the worst of

humanity

and and they are claiming that richard

is that you know it's one of the things

many people

when they try to accuse others really

they are trying to deflect attention

from themselves and i think that's what

a lot of these people are doing

i guess i come from a different

generation because

again i i disagree with some of the

things that richard has said and done in

the past but one thing i've never done

i've never said anything vile

or nasty or hateful toward the men ever

i've never told other people to go be

vile and hateful and nasty toward the

man either

like it's i don't know why

this is the norm today it just blows my

mind

i have said on occasion that he should

not be the out in front

spokesperson for the free software

movement that maybe he's not the best

guy

for that job but i've never again

attacked

the guy in some personal way and

i mentioned my criticisms of rms simply

to show that people can disagree with

each other

without being nasty just because you

disagree with somebody it doesn't have

to

be one of these situations where you

have to be filled with all this

anger and rage and everything devolves

into just an all-out war

where it's a us versus them mentality

and

you're either with us or you're with

them and if you're with them guess what

after we're finished destroying richard

we're coming after you too

that's the kind of cancel culture

mentality and

it's very destructive it's destructive

not just to society it's destructive to

you personally being filled with all

that anger and rage

is not healthy and the cancel culture

mentality they prey

on people that are scared to death of

being

excommunicated from society you know

these people like coraline ada emke and

the gnome foundation guys and all of

these people

they they're these weird sick people

that prey

on people's fears of being cast out from

society they know

many of you guys your greatest fear is

being cast out from society

because most people are extroverted most

people like being a part of the herd a

part of the social circle

so when you are threatened it's like hey

we want to get rid of this guy

you're going to help and if you don't

help guess what you're going with him

what are most people gonna do well okay

i'll go along with the herd

let's go get richard that's not

principled in any way right

that is just weak-minded and cowardly

if you just go along with people just to

go along right

at some point you do have to show

courage you have to show real courage

and real courage is sticking to your

ideals no matter what other people

say or do what no matter what the

consequences may be and that's one of

the things

i love about richard is he sticks to his

ideals richard understands what real

courage is one thing

i have never said and will never say is

that richard stallman

is a coward because he's not this man

has been constantly under attack for

decades

and he's fine with it and what i love

about it is he's still

when you see him speaking when you see

videos of the man he's often smiling

he's often jovial

in tone and you know he is not one of

these people that is filled with hate

and resentment and bitterness even

though

you would think all these people coming

after you all the time

would tear you down he is not like that

though and i really respect the guy for

that now ultimately people are going to

want to know do i agree with the free

software foundation

should they let richard back as a board

member should they maybe eventually let

him

be president again i i think that's okay

i i didn't i didn't care that they asked

the man to resign

if that's what people within the free

software foundation wanted to do it's an

internal thing right we don't care what

core line ada emke

thinks but if the people within the free

software foundation

thinks hey it's been 18 months the guy

he he was punished enough

let him come back he deserves to be a

part of this community he deserves to be

a part of this movement because he's the

person

that founded the movement he's the

person that founded the free software

foundation yeah you know he served his

time

now let's reinstate him let him be part

of this thing once again and i'm

perfectly

okay with that my advice to the free

software foundation

is ignore the trolls ignore all the

hateful

protests on social media and on that

ridiculous

github petition and all of that because

none of those people matter

and what i would suggest to the free

software foundation is like i mentioned

how courageous richard stallman has been

for decades in the face of all of his

attackers

the free software foundation needs to

start showing some courage right

they need to understand that almost none

of their detractors in this

have anything to do with the free

software movement anyway many of them

are not involved with free software at

all they don't care about free software

or

in some cases they're actually anti free

software

so why would you try to kowtow to these

people right these people don't matter

so just have some balls here free

software foundation stick to your ideal

stick to your principles

and show some courage even if there are

some short-term consequences maybe a few

people

do leave the free software foundation in

protest

it doesn't matter in the long run this

is what you have to do the next thing i

would say to the free software

foundation is don't drag this thing out

yeah people are going to protest you're

just going to have to learn to live with

that

don't drag this out reinstate richard

stallman if that's what you want to do

make it official

because you guys haven't publicly come

out and said it's official richard did

it for you

but i would post something on the free

software foundation website right now

saying richard is back he's a member of

the board

we know some people are going to have a

problems with it oh well

within the free software foundation we

discussed this

and we decided this was the best course

of action the people outside of the free

software foundation

your opinion doesn't matter at all on

this and i would just go with it the

other thing

is you know don't be tempted to change

your opinions on these things just

because of the prevailing political wins

right

because politics and the prevailing uh

mindset of society is always changing

and a little transparency would be good

i think the free software foundation

they need to be honest

they need to be honest with themselves

and with the members of the foundation

so more transparency if you were going

to bring richard back

this discussion should have been more

open and out there so it wasn't the kind

of shock where richard

appears on camera one day and says i'm

back right

you could have uh warmed people up to

the idea a little bit

but you know that's in the past now

there's no going back and changing this

thing

i think another thing that the free

software foundation can do is to go out

there

and achieve some real victories because

that makes the controversy go go away

right

if you go out there and have some major

wins in the fight for free software

digital rights digital

privacy and you know all of that stuff

that

the good press will drown out the bad

press

and also i think it will shut up the

detractors a little bit because

they see the people in the free software

movement making a real difference in

real people's lives and not just

one demographic right the free software

foundation fights for

all people regardless of gender

regardless of race regardless of age

regardless of what country you're in

regardless of sexual orientation it

doesn't matter

the free software foundation fights for

everybody

when we fight for free software digital

privacy digital rights

it is a fight for every single person on

the planet

even those mean-spirited and nasty and

hateful people that are trying to cancel

richard those

evil people that sign that petition

guess what the free software movement

they are fighting for those people as

well even though many of those people

would claim we're not we're fighting for

everyone even those

that would shut us up even those that

would kill us in some circumstances

i also think the free software

foundation needs to better adapt itself

to the modern world

and by adapt i don't mean they need to

change the message the message

is perfect as far as like the definition

of the free free software you know the

four freedoms we don't need to change

that message

it's set in stone it is what it is by

adapting to the modern world i think

what i'm saying is the free software

foundation

needs to do a better job of

communicating because

right now because richard was the face

of the foundation for decades and

richard is so detached from the modern

world

and in part because of his unique

position as the person that created the

movement and everything

he's completely and totally against

using anything proprietary

i i think that has held the movement

back the fact that

getting the message of free software out

on social media platforms like facebook

twitter

read it or on the big video platforms

like youtube

you know richard was never going to do

that

he just couldn't because ideologically

he couldn't be on those platforms and i

understand why he did that

but was that the best way to get the

message out by not being on all the

platforms that all the people are on

no that is not the way to spread the

message of free software

and i i think that has held the movement

back a little bit

and i but i think that is a unique

problem to richard as the founder of the

movement he just can't be

seen as being on a place like facebook i

think once we get past richard you know

other people are prominently speaking

for the free software movement

i think many of those people are going

to realize they need to go

to where the masses are and they need to

start spreading the message of free

software

on these proprietary platforms because

the people on the proprietary platforms

are the ones that need to hear the

message the most

a final word i would say is i support

the free software foundation i mentioned

i'm a member of the free software

foundation i'm currently a member and

i'm not planning on going away

right i'm not one of these people that

just instantly react to something as i'm

canceling my membership because

of the mob on the internet all of them

are going crazy let me go crazy too no

no i'm not one of these types of people

and i'm one of these types of people if

i i have i'm part of something and i

really want to be a part

of it and it's going a direction i don't

want to go

well i try to be a part of the solution

i don't want to be a part of the problem

and all of you people that are leaving

the free software foundation over this

you're not a part of the solution you're

part of the problem and all of those

people that oppose the ideals of

the free software movement that they're

not

gonna quit attacking people like richard

stallman they're not gonna quit

attacking people like me

right they're never going away they're

never going to quit attacking you guys

on the board of the free software

foundation

these people that are asking for all of

you guys to resign guess what

that's what you signed up for when you

joined this movement

you signed up for this fight and if if

you

weren't prepared to take that fight then

you probably should resign

but if you were prepared to take that

fight then actually fight

and actually win fighting for freedom

means you got to stick

to your principles right you don't

compromise we never compromise

we never acquiesce you don't compromise

with a stupid person

by agreeing hey i'll become dumber

myself so i can meet you in the middle

that's not what you do

right and that's kind of what these

people the detractors out there

are wanting they're wanting us to come

to them that's not what we do we hold

our ground

we make them come to us for those of you

that are not members of the free

software foundation i strongly urge you

guys go to fsf.org

click on the donate tab at the top of

the page and become a member of the

foundation

help us fight for free software the

ideals of free software help us fight

for digital rights and digital privacy

help us stand up

to the cancel culture mob mentality that

is attacking people like richard people

like myself and

members of the free software foundation

just help us

join the fight right help us hold the

line