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Richard Stallman's Experiences With 'Cancel Brigades' Ought to Educate Linus Torvalds

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jan 26, 2026,
updated Jan 26, 2026

A year ago (another attempt to discredit and/or remove Torvalds): When It Comes to Social Control Media, Linus Torvalds is Channeling Techrights

Now they talk about "if Linus dies" scenarios: (remember how Clickfraud SPAMnil, PR operative of the Zemlins, asked Richard Stallman about his death)

Documentation: Project continuity

In Richard Stallman's Georgia Tech talk (delivered at the end of last week), specifically in the longish questions and answers (Q&A) session, he pointed out that there was a campaign to replace him with someone younger and more hip. He put it politely like this. He could use stronger terms. He chose not to (throughout the talk he used relatively soft and diplomatic language, even when tackling hard issues).

There is now also a GAFAM+I (IBM/Intel) or monopolies-led campaign to prepare for contingencies in case Linus Torvalds dies or cannot do his job for whatever other reason. They formulate something in formal or official documents, which caused some people to speculate or hypothesise about the timing/or motivation. We won't resort to guesswork here. The Linux Foundation would love to replace him with someone even more docile or submissive, maybe Greg K-H (that would remove some barriers to more financing from obnoxious companies). They already did a "pilot" run back in 2018 (forced apology and forced 'manner training'). Who would they rather have in charge (unless Torvalds capitulates entirely)? Someone who fancies slop and finds Rust delightful, among other things. Some people can be bought; richer people, like Torvalds, are harder to buy/corrupt.

Since the very beginning Torvalds didn't care much about freedom. This won't change, but at least he has bossed his project in a way that some hostile companies like Microsoft found off-putting (uninviting), just as he found Dr. Stallman a bit off-putting. He also still rejects truly bad code, irrespective of the ego or feelings or those who pass it (but he cannot properly read Rust code, so forget about this inclination).

Although Torvalds and Dr. Stallman think differently on many issues [2,4], what they have in common is the effort to remove them from leadership [1] (the same people or same groups/collectives target both of them! [3]) and Torvalds now approaches the age when the first "cancel Stallman/RMS" campaign kicked off (way back in 2009). These succession plans are something for Torvalds to be potentially worried about. It's like a "step 1" and he has already made enemies that GAFAM sponsor. Unlike the Free Software Foundation (FSF) (no GAFAM sponsors anymore).

Last week Dr. Stallman said he does not expect to live another 10 years (after he had been asked a question about the future); contrary to what the Serial Slopper relays with LLM slop, Torvalds probably has a few more decades "in the tank", but he got 'canceled' (temporarily, like Dr. Stallman, RMS) when he was only in his 40s. A "step 2" and "step 3" typically revolve around the elevation and celebration or heirs for "succession", whether it is or isn't endorsed by the founder/s (sort of like Machado). Anything that can engineer a scandal - even a totally phony pretext - can be exploited and words taken out of context in Social Control Media. Ironically, for example, the same person who years ago insisted Ted Ts'o (reliable Torvalds successor and loyalist) was "rape apologist"... was as recently as last week accused of being a "rapist" by his own spouse (in public). The hypocrisy never ends. █

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Richard Stallman's Experiences With 'Cancel Brigades' Ought to Educate Linus Torvalds

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