Nadav: *"And even if Stallman were this evil, Israel-hating radical like other people quickly judged him to be, it certainly doesn't reflect anything on the free software movement as a whole..."*
While I disagree with much of the rest of your analysis, I certainly agree with that part 100%. It would be a terrible mistake to conflate Stallman's political views with the whole of the free software movement, which certainly does not deserve to be besmirched by association. I would even go further than that: I note that Stallman is more than a little bit of a fruitcake, and a great many things that he says do not reflect the views of the majority of members of the free software movment. (Examples that come to mind are his tirades against the Open Source movement, against usage of the name "Linux" or even "Penguin", and his general insistence that the rest of the world conform to his own bizarre, personally-invented lexicon of Politically Correct terminology...) Moshe On Sun, May 29, 2011 at 4:49 PM, Nadav Har'El <n...@math.technion.ac.il>wrote: > On Sun, May 29, 2011, Gabor Szabo wrote about "Re: FW: I have to cancel the > speeches at universities": > > But again, I doubt that the real reason the Palestinians wanted him to > > skip Israel > > is the money. > > Obviously, I don't think the reason why the *Palestinians* wanted him to > skip > Israel was the money - the reason is that they, believe it or not, don't > like > us. But I do think, however, that the reason why *Stallman* is skipping > Israel > *is* the money, not that he doesn't like us. > > Perhaps the problem can be made clear by a similar (and completely > hypothetical) situation, but without all the heated patriotism of both > sides: > > Imagine that Cellcom and Orange are two Israeli companies in bitter > competition. One day Cellcom invites Richard Stallman for giving a talk in > Cellcom's HQ, paying for his flight, hotel, and other expenses. Orange hear > this, and smell an oportunity: They can invite Stallman for free (or almost > free), because his flight is already paid for, and Orange's HQ is just a > few > miles from Cellcom's! So Orange does invite Stallman, and Stallman accepts. > > A while later, Cellcom discovers that Stallman will also visit Orange, and > are > furious: Stallman is flying on their invitation, on their expense, and > their > bitter enemy Orange will benefit from his presence? No way, Jose! Cellcom > quickly write Stallman a demand: If do don't cancel your plans to also > visit > Orange, you are no longer welcome to visit us. And of course, we won't pay > for the trip. > > Stallman doesn't like the situation, but doesn't have many options: He > understands why Cellcom doesn't want to benefit Orange (although he has no > personal grudge against either Cellcom or Orange), and he *did* promise > Cellcom first to visit them. Moreover, Orange never offered to finance his > trip, so if he doesn't take the money from Cellcom, he won't be able to > visit > neither of them. > > I think when you use the words "Cellcom" and "Orange", it becomes clearer > that > Stallman isn't evil here, and didn't make any unreasonable decision. He > found himself wedged between two bitter enemies, between a proverbial rock > and a hard place. Finding himself in this situation doesn't make him evil, > any more than it makes him a saint. > > And even if Stallman were this evil, Israel-hating radical like other > people > quickly judged him to be, it certainly doesn't reflect anything on the free > software movement as a whole - any more than quirks in Albert Einstein's > personality or personal life reflect on the importance or success of his > theory, or physics as a whole. > > Nadav. > > > > -- > Nadav Har'El | Sunday, May 29 2011, 25 Iyyar > 5771 > n...@math.technion.ac.il > |----------------------------------------- > Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |Why do we drive on a parkway and park > on > http://nadav.harel.org.il |a driveway? > _______________________________________________ > Discussions mailing list > Discussions@hamakor.org.il > http://hamakor.org.il/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discussions > >
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