The reason Stallman has an eclectic collection of opinions that completely ignore cultural taboos and power relationships is because free software used to be part of the free culture movement.

CharLES ☭ H

Free culture thinkers felt like taboos limited freedom and that human happiness should trump Christian social mores. Stallman was attempting to be a Jeremy Bentham like figure, maximising human happiness and potential.

He was trying to start from that and build a logically consistent system where anything that doesn't hurt a living human is basically fine. There are obvious problems with this when it intersects with, say human remains, sexuality, children, etc. The larger movement also had systemic problems with failing at intersectionality. Stallman shares these problems.

There's a fair amount of overlap between free culture and anarchism. Stallman aside, many people involved in the movement did take feminist and anti racist critiques. As time has carried on, the FC movement has largely been subsumed. The thing where Open Source Software was a defanged way to donate labour to rich corporations was not an isolated incident. The commons have been enclosed. Free culture is not what it was.

Stallman has resisted changes. He did not join OSS. He did not listen to feminists. His obstinacy has helped and hindered his cause. It has materially contributed to cis hetero patriarchy in free software. He has also contributed to some resistance against corporate enclosure - but far less effectively than he could have if he listened to feminists and antiracists.

Indeed, I do not support Stallman's continued role at FSF. He should retire.

But he does have a context. The parts of the discourse now that are exhausting and off putting are the parts where culture did *not* change. Its important to recognise some of free culture's victories which include a bunch of stuff about relationships and bodily autonomy. People into polyamory now dont owe anything to Stallman in particular, let's be clear. But that movement, his contemporaries - the world changed for the better.

As Stallman leaves free software, we should be conscious of which parts of his mission are retained. I would argue we should embrace an intersectional approach to the free culture ideal and not just move to a buttoned down, professionalised monofocous on software. The larger freedom is not peripheral, but should remain a core part of the project.

Chip Butty

@celesteh I completely agree with "I would argue we should embrace an intersectional approach to the free culture ideal and not just move to a buttoned down, professionalised monofocous on software. The larger freedom is not peripheral, but should remain a core part of the project."

Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:

@otfrom @celesteh I think we have to always consider human rights and freedoms.

The software we write and design can help or harm others. So it needs to be transparent, the code needs to be open and we try to design with those rights and freedoms from the beginning.