A Kind of Sadness in Society and the Erosion of Kindness
THE recent attack on the FSF (shallowly disguised as an issue with just one person) reveals that people whose lives and business struggle resort to attempts to destroy other people's lives. See, if their lives can't work out, then they set the goal of trying to drag everything or everybody else down to their level.
Such behaviours aren't unprecedented and they often coincide with financial depressions (in the economic sense) and personal depression. If your life is OK but your neighbours' isn't, then there's a real potent danger or a chance that the neighbours will try to break in, beat people up, set people's homes on fire and so on.
In the context of Free software, toxicity levels seem to have risen and people who just go about doing their own thing get attacked out of nowhere. RMS isn't the only example of this. We've covered many other examples.
Next week the US might show this sort of attitude tested at a whole new level; will people leave their neighbours in peace of will race-baiting (now Puerto Rico is the scapegoat) be chosen instead?
The world and society (as in, human civilisation) won't allow coexistence if people's living conditions deteriorate or fall below some tolerable levels. Why would a female pharmacist be fatally attacked by a homeless man in Australia? What else can society sink to?
Tricking and treating used to be a children's thing, but now there's a whole lot of tricking, even by adults (or grown-ups who still act like kids). █