The World Needs Activists With Social Skills and Perseverance
An everyday activist makes life better for everybody, everywhere (not for personal gain or even credit)
Posted hours ago. In the UK I saw how RMS can raise important issues, rather
politely (as he sees it), sometimes to be confronted for being
"different". His intention wasn't to hurt people's feelings, even
if some people were 'offended' by constructive criticism.
In my personal site today I speak of two tech-related issues:
1) public sites everybody must use (de facto monopoly; not a business one can turn down or replace with another) turning down browsers that aren't GAFAM (US) spyware;
2) complaints being reduced to what can become bots/slop in order to reduce/eliminate "human touch", gaslighting citizens with legitimate reports or complaints (e.g. regarding (1) above).
Here in Manchester I've long campaigned on digital or technology "issues"; sometimes I wrote about that, sometimes I did not. Writing about it not what matters when the activism is done "offline".
My wife too became known as the Computer Scientist who "doesn't have a phone"; some colleagues envy her for it, as they wish they too could just "disconnect".
Almost every week I'd make suggestions, e.g. accessibility improvements, cash payments, privacy, and care for the vulnerable. Some people around here came to know me for this "activism" and I'm not combative about it. People say I am polite and I can handle hostile staff like a gentleman (sometimes when people like me issue a concern/complaint they're immediately painted as "enemies" and things rapidly escalate, as means of intimidation).
Imagine a million "Stallmans" out there in the UK, not just over a million Brits who don't have and thus don't carry around a mobile phone. How much better would things get for all of us?
We need to listen to informed critics, not demonise them or talk about their penis (or something about "toejam"). █