[kwlug-disc] Richard Stallman announcing his return to the FSF's Board of Directors

[Ron Singh]

3 years ago when I found KWLUG, some of my inquiries and questions were met
by a certain degree of sharpness.
This is absolutely no longer the case.
In the last 2 years, I have found folks on this LUG to be kinder and more
tolerant than ever.
I feel fortunate to be able to access the hyperbrains who reside here. Very
kind, bloody brilliant and often funny!
On this subject of RMS, I feel KWLUG's kolks will be civil and patient in
their comments.

As an aside, I have a 27yo son with Asperger's, I glue individuals like him
into face-to-face conversations(as best as I can) on a monthly basis.
Man, it's exhausting work keeping them in conversational synch.
Pick any social-oriented topic and engage them; it can be pretty dismaying
what comes out of their mouths.
Like anyone else, Aspies have perspectives and a desire to be heard. They
want to be heard as a rational and knowledgeable person.
More often than not, what they say can come across as
harsh/unfeeling/misogynistic/sexist and immoral.
Erecting a scaffolding of humanity around their conversations is where the
real hard work lies, very few can be bothered.

I think RMS shares some of the same attributes as folks with Aspergers' and
I will hope that his circle will find a reason to help him present his
thoughts and ideas in a more socially responsible way.

Just found this on my YT feed -- Distrotube, a passionate Linux advocate on
Lbry and YT, does a fine job of presenting(calmly and rationally) a pro-rms
position for being allowed on the board of directors at the FSF despite
being appalled by *some* of the stuff that came out of RMS's mouth over the
years. 20-ish mins long, might be worth a listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uun2YhnUNGc

Thanks,

Ron S.



On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 1:48 PM Paul Nijjar via kwlug-disc <
kwlug-disc at kwlug.org> wrote:

>
> I do not feel comfortable commenting on this issue too deeply in this
> thread, but I do want to put on my moderator hat for a moment:
>
> - This is a contentious social issue.
>
> - In my opinion (which may not be the correct one) it is fine to
>   discuss this issue (in the sense that it is pretty relevant to the
>   free software movement), but let's make sure we keep the discussion
>   civil.
>
>   I think the comments so far have done a reasonable job of remaining
>   civil, but I would like to be pre-emptive, because conversations
>   about contentious social issues can get heated fast.
>
> - I know for a fact that there are people within the KWLUG community
>   who have strong opinions about cancel/consequence culture in general
>   and the issue of RMS in particular. People supportive of the removal
>   have not been speaking much in this thread, but they do exist.
>
> Basically, my hope is that in discussing these issues we maintain
> kindness. It is important to me that people in the KWLUG community
> feel as if they belong in the KWLUG community, even though others hold
> very different views. That may be naive or even a form of oppression
> in itself, but that remains my hope.
>
> - Paul
>
> On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 12:55:04PM -0400, Ron Singh wrote:
> > Oh  man, I hope this cancel-culture thing runs it's course before too
> long.
> > Silencing of voices that one might find disagreeable at times is simply
> > wrong.
> >
> > I would like to sign that letter supporting RMS, I suppose I need to
> create
> > an account on Github?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Ron S.
> >
>
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>
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