[Ipg-smz] On Stallman

[Allen Bernard]

There are no misfits because there is no "normal". Doesn't exist. Never
did.

Allen Bernard
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On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 11:35 AM Christine Hall via Ipg-smz <
ipg-smz at netpress.org> wrote:

> As I life long misfit, thanks for this post.
>
> Christine Hall
> Publisher & Editor
> FOSS Force: Keeping tech free
> http://fossforce.com
>
> On 9/18/19 11:23 AM, Tom Henderson via Ipg-smz wrote:
> > Fellow Guilders,
> >
> > I go way back in Linux. Long ago, the Linux Business Expo was part of
> > COMDEX, and I was one of many functionaries in the greater spheres of
> > COMDEX program development. Lots of interesting characters evolved Linux
> > for a variety of motivations.
> >
> > Stallman was the anti-Microsoft. The pillar of free. I'm not a licensed
> > medical/health/psych practitioner in any jurisdiction, but Stallman had
> > brains, perhaps some autisim, and thought things through. He cared not
> > one whit about his personal appearance or scent. Clue #1.
> >
> > He had boundaries in the philosophy of Free. They were well-developed
> > and thought through. Much of his hard work in finishing the utilities
> > that make the operating system we know as Linux were at his hands, or
> > one step-away.
> >
> > His lip flatulence was notorious, as is/was/were many in the early
> > free/open source movement. Many of them had a gripe with the sheer
> > mendacity of Microsoft and its minions. SJV-N believes Microsoft has
> > changed. I'm not sure if I share that believe, but as an researcher, I
> > continue to observe.
> >
> > Stallman is a member of a wider body of men that think within their own
> > context. It's difficult to shift outside of that personal context for
> > them. I'm not excusing their behavior, just observing it.
> >
> > Nor am I forgiving it, and history shouldn't, either. The object that
> > we'll look backwards upon 100yrs from now, should have that stain
> > mentioned, not just the bullet-point of: founder of "free" as a
> > construction and architectural concept. He was also: a dick.
> >
> > Can he help being a dick? I'll leave that to others. Too many men follow
> > their hormones rather than something evolved in the pre-frontal cortex.
> > Is being a dick part of autism? Does it being autism make it forgivable?
> > No, is my answer-- it's a quality that doesn't offset the fetid scent.
> >
> > Every day I deal with my autistic brother's shenanigans. He is built,
> > how he's built.; in the 1960s it was rare to even get a diagnosis and
> > few knew what to do with autistim diagnoses. He's trainable. Graduated
> > high school. But moving outside of his own context is nigh impossible.
> > Change comes after daunting repetition. Only then. Trust me: only then.
> > My late mother had him queued in a very Pavlovian way, and was
> > successful, but my brother doesn't live with me. I've developed a
> > support network for him. At a family event, he will blurt the most
> > insane stuff, not understanding how a poop joke might not go over well
> > with his aging aunt. Clueless. There are many clueless in the world.
> > Their population doesn't forgive the cluelessness, just makes us work
> > harder at inculcating manners. Like most of us, he wants to be loved.
> >
> > And so, atop the object that we might describe about others, their
> > incredible accomplishments but their amazing lip flatulence and even
> > more morbid felonies: some were built to not recognize the emotive
> > response of other humans. It's just the way things are.
> >
> > There are many "Aspie" and autistic people somehow in my immediate
> > circle of people, or perhaps, one step away. Here in the university town
> > where I live, it's like the aforementioned Mensa meeting, where people
> > came to study, and unable to live in the real world, became academics,
> > or failing that, became "townies" with IQs in excess of 145 joining
> > their peers. They never succeed in any recognizable way, but they fit
> > into a rag-tag bunch of intellectual misfits which in turn, becomes a
> > subculture of snorters. Nothing inherently wrong with snorters. And a
> > common denominator of humanity is: Misfit, if of differing cultures and
> > acumen.
> >
> > To address therefore Dana's "everyone is eventually forgiven" comment,
> > my answer is no, that's not quite correct. Like most things, it's more
> > complicated than that. Some will want to understand the complexity,
> > while others just want to ascribe to The Winning Team or soundbite.
> >
> > Tom
> >
> >
>
> --
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>
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