Summary: Generalisations are the foremost weapon of fascism; Drew DeVault embraces the ideology of those whom he claims to be against

I've long attempted to refrain from commenting on Drew DeVault, whose mental struggles he habitually writes about himself in his own blog. But it's getting harder to avoid responding as he has just made some wild and wide-ranging accusations, generalising and stigmatising Free software communities. First there's this:

Read: I met a pedophile in a hackers' conference, so all hackers are pedophiles

And this is in the footnote:

He makes it sound like Richard Stallman (RMS) committed a crime and people who don't reject RMS are thus "enablers"

My personal interpretation of this (since June when he tried to "reform" the message) is that he's just jealous and frustrated that his anti-FSF thing did not take off. Trying to 'pull an OSI' 25 years later (after failing to be elected at the OSI) was a losing proposition.

I first noticed him in Mastodon several years ago; then he closed his instance (which was used by other people too!) with barely any prior notice and he then -- perhaps just months later -- spoke about depression issues, drugs, among other things...

"My personal interpretation of this (since June when he tried to "reform" the message) is that he's just jealous and frustrated that his anti-FSF thing did not take off."He is both extremely UNPREDICTABLE and unstable, even if he writes excellent software and has very good insights on the technology sector (this new one from yesterday is spot on).

I can only ask politely that he should reconsider stigma and generalisation. Those do not bear the message of inclusiveness or tolerance. He's in effect rejecting very large groups because of a single person here and there. Inductions and deductions have taken the Netherlands (where he's now based) into the abyss 80 years ago. Don't lead us back to that in the name of "diversity". As for the Code of Conduct, in practice it is censorship for and by corporations. It's not meant to protect vulnerable groups. Don't be the monopolists' "useful idiot". ⬆