Blogging Pioneer Dave Winer: Pleading for Richard Stallman

Guest Editorial Team

2021-05-18 23:51:31 UTC
Modified: 2021-05-18 23:51:31 UTC

Reprinted from the original

I feel so sad about what's happening to Stallman.#
He's 68. I know what that's like, I'm 65. #
He has fixed his whole existence on a single idea that software should be free. Not free of charge, but free to use and to adapt. It's not that far from the kind of openness I believe in, that I believe is an ethical responsiblity for developers. #
It's useful to have a person like Stallman around, consistently marking an extreme view. It's like knowing there's a North Star, you may not be going to it, exactly, but knowing where it is makes it possible to go other places. And some people agree with Stallman in total, and to them he's their leader.#
Now, if you step back and look at what's being said about him, basically people don't like things he says or the questions he asks. I read these things completely factoring out the non-factual stuff, where they tell you what his questions mean in some pure sense, when what they're really saying is what these questions mean to them. To a reasonable person imho they're just questions. Some people don't argue with questions, they just ask them. For the people who attack him, it's the opposite, their questions are accusations. #
I think Stallman is actually a naive innocent, almost child-like harmless person. That's based on years of observing him, being connected through communities. Maybe he did terrible things I don't know about. But maybe you have too. Is this how we're going to coexist? All of us worrying about who's going to make a credible case for destroying each others' lives? This isn't about Stallman, it's about your sense of justice and how far it extends, and how unfair that is for the rest of us who fear being judged by you. #
PS: A quote from a 1994 blog post: "I try not to get offended on principle." I was quoting someone else, but I've remembered that. Just because I should be offended, doesn't mean, if I'm not actually offended, that I have to pretend I was. #
PPS: If you still think Stallman should be destroyed, go see Lives of Others, a wonderful film about intellectuals in East Germany during the Cold War. #

Media Gaslighting Dooms the Media: this "AI" gaslighting is done because publishers get paid to do so
GNU/Linux at 4% "Market Share" (Even According to Steam Survey): Another milestone
Ahead of Mass Layoffs Microsoft Tries to Rebrand or Redefine XBox (Because the XBox is Tentatively Dead): 2026 will be the last year of XBox in all likelihood
Richard Stallman (RMS) Announces His Georgia Talk 2.5 Weeks in Advance: A lot earlier than usual
EPO People Power - Part XXVII - Science- and Principles-First Journalism About Issues That Matter: journalism became so shallow that nowadays it can be replaced by bots
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 06, 2026: IRC logs for Tuesday, January 06, 2026
Gemini Links 06/01/2026: Collective Responsibility, Pico2DVI, and TV Detox: Links for the day
Microsoft Loves Freedom, Democracy... and Linux? No, Microsoft Laying Off Because "Microsoft Loves Linux" Was Failed Posturing, Its Former Staff Moves to GNU/Linux: "What are the running totals for IBM and Microsoft layoffs?"
Mozilla's Assisted Suicide, Assisted by GNOME: Firefox is meant to get better all the time, but instead it gets worse
Links 06/01/2026: Neglect of the Elderly, Abandonment of International Laws: Links for the day
Links 06/01/2026: More Reports Point to Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Later This Month), Greenland/Denmark Cautions the Dictator Who Illegally Invaded Venezuela: Links for the day
Internet Policy/Net Reality: You Must Never Ever Rely on Google (no "S.E.O." Either): Stack Overflow is dying
Dr. Andy Farnell on Technology That Harms People (and Lack of Regulation Which is Needed to Address This Problem): Dr. Farnell's article is long but well worth reading
GNU/Linux Rising to 5% in Cameroon and It's Hardly the Exception: "AI" is just a smokescreen as losses pile up
Rumours: Microsoft to Lay Off 12,500-25,000 Workers Soon (Tentatively Wednesday, 15 Days From Now): "Layoffs are coming third full week of Jan. Likely 21st but these things can move around a bit based on last minute developments."
EPO People Power - Part XXVI - European Media Has Become Part of the Problem: it is as clear as daylight that Cocainegate is real
IBM 2026 "Organizational Change/s" Means Layoffs Resume Soon, Some Claim "Forever Layoffs.": It's about "narrative control"
Microsoft Layoffs in January 2026: Get ready
Google Still Boosting Slopfarms: Slopfarms will probably all perish as soon as Google News quits sending them visitors
Links 06/01/2026: Cryptocurrency Scam Emails and Greenland's Fear of Getting 'Venezuelad': Links for the day
Links 06/01/2026: DIY Projects and Inertial Music: Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 05, 2026: IRC logs for Monday, January 05, 2026
To The Register MS, ARM Means Microsoft Windows (Follow the Money): the Free software community can campaign and run sites (like the one below), but it cannot afford to bribe so-called 'news' sites like Microsoft and its OEMs do
IBM's CEO Makes No Sense: "IBM CEO Aravind Krishna on what’s really driving tech layoffs"
Links 05/01/2026: Tensions in Korea, Ukrainians See "Double Standard" in a US Russia-Style Invasion: Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/01/2026: Farewell to CBS Reality, Being On-Call, Digital Ad Spendings: Links for the day
Remember That Nobel Prizes Are All Named After the Inventor of Explosives (Even a "Nobel Prize for Peace"): These rewards are only as valuable as the reputation they earn for themselves
Baidu and Yandex Have Overtaken Microsoft in Asia: how about all the Bing layoffs?
Googlebombing for Bill Epsteingate: Maybe the slopfarms too can help him cover up
Of Course GNU/Linux Has Reached All-Time High in Africa in 2026: Africa will, on average, gravitate towards Free software or whatever costs less
From GNU/Linux Boosting to Slop-Boosting Career: It is sad to see someone who devoted many years of his life producing GNU/Linux stories stooping down to this "AI" boot-licking
IBM Buys, Then Disposes/Sacks, the Staff (That It Paid For): Any money gained is spent buying some more companies to add/join up their revenue, even if the debt surges and there's little integration going on (misfits absorbed)
Time for Microsoft to Rebrand to Fit the Vapourware (Ponzi Scheme): something between Meta and Alphabet
Links 05/01/2026: Slop Ruining Children's Minds, "Complicity of the Press in US Violence": Links for the day
Microsoft's Windows Falls Below 20% in the UK: After a lot of years of advocacy and hard work
The Real GNU Anniversary (Not Manifesto or Announcement) is Today: the development, not the manifesto
GNU/Linux Usage Said to Have Doubled in Oceania: it's hard to discount or dismiss Oceania as a bunch of "coconut islands"
There's No Such Thing as "AI Godfather", Stop Repeating This Pure Nonsense!: Infantile or corruptible media that plays along with slop or uses slop will perish
Gemini Links 05/01/2026: "Poverty and Hunger", "Entrepreneurial Family", "Abandoning Obsidian for Logseq": Links for the day
Links 05/01/2026: A Shrinking Canadian Economy, Brigitte Bardot's Environmentalism Recalled, Unredacted Epstein Files: Links for the day
Microsoft Allegedly Uses Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) to Hide the Massive Scale of Company-Wide Layoffs: Just like IBM; they meanwhile talk a bunch of nonsense about "AI" to distract from their commercial calamity
Battles Are Won in the Court of Public Opinion: Many "systems" rely on the mere perception or appearance of legitimacy
No, Writing Isn't in Decline, Some of the Large and Centralised Platforms Are: Slop isn't really competition, just a passing fad and pure noise
GNU/Linux Share in Mongolia More Than Doubles: they probably lack any genuine excitement for "hey hi PCs"
Whistleblowing is About Understanding Boundaries and Risks: The bottom line is, people typically find out the truth at the end
EPO People Power - Part XXV - While EPO Managers Snort Cocaine the Staff Compiles 'Insurance Files' to Expose EPO Corruption: In this increasingly authoritarian world we need more whistleblowers
"The European Patent Reform" That Represents a Gross Violation of Laws, Constitutions, and Conventions (in Order to Make the Rich Even Richer, Mostly Outside Europe): How far and how long will EPO corruption go?
The Reputation Issue Is Not Our Fault: Trying to squash words (and people) merely diverts more attention to them
GNU/Linux Distribution "Ultimate Edition" Fixes Its Web Site (Apparently Compromised Months Ago): they dealt with the issue before media shame and a catastrophe of trust
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, January 04, 2026: IRC logs for Sunday, January 04, 2026

Blogging Pioneer Dave Winer: Pleading for Richard Stallman

Recent Techrights' Posts