Richard Stallman in the United States - Part I - Huge Audience (Offline and Online), 'Cancel Culture' Attempted and Failed
As promised the other day, this weekend we start a new series about the comeback of Richard Stallman (RMS) in the United States.
At the dawn of the new year I heard from the person who had organised the "comeback" (to US colleges) event. That event turned out very well and many people listened to RMS, both in person and online (after the talk). The YouTube copy of the video, not the other copies (including ours), got over 5,000 views already:
Before the talk I was notified that they had purchased flight tickets for RMS and "we’re all incredibly excited about the upcoming event."
Prior to the event RMS requested some amendments, which are understandable as he does not wish to be misrepresented (e.g. with the term "Open Source") or unwittingly demonised. "RMS has requested a few minor changes to the poster before we begin our campus advertising campaign," I got told. "Once those updates are approved by him and the FSF, I’ll be sure to forward the final version to you ahead of the event."
As pointed out last month, I argued that: "If the wrong words are used, his haters will take advantage, call him "hypocrite" etc."
Thankfully, in hindsight, this didn't happen and I did not see people nitpicking on the presentation or its advertising.
It is a matter of public record (Reddit) that professor Amy S. Bruckman attempted to interfere with the talk or, in effect, cancel it. She did not succeed. We'll try to cover that episode as objectively as possible. █