From: Norbert de Jonge <mail@norbertdejonge.nl>
To: rms@gnu.org, hostmaster@stallman.org, johns@fsf.org, us.opinion@theguardian.com, info@freedom.press, submissions@theintercept.com, contact@fsfe.org, mail@wired.com, tech.pitches@vice.com, info@itsfoss.com, info@fossbytes.com
Cc: roman@czyborra.com
Subject: Free Software creators demand an end to the RMS witch-hunt!
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2019 21:23:51 +0200
Free Software creators demand an end to the RMS witch-hunt!
by Roman Czyborra (1970) and Norbert de Jonge (1978)
published on 19 September 2019
This text is released under the GNU FDL 1.3 license.
On 16 September 2019, Richard M. Stallman, founder and president of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), resigned as president and from its board of directors.[1] As developers of Free Software, including software released under the aegis of GNU, we regret Richard's rash decision that appears to be triggered by an escalating, week-long witch-hunt.
Media outlets have misquoted Richard. He did not defend Jeffrey Epstein, but responded to language used.[2] He objected to use of the word "assault" regarding accusations against Marvin Minsky, because "assault" implies use of force or violence.[3] He objected to defining "rape" in a way that depends on the exact age of consent, because it criminalizes innocent acts.[2]
In the past, Richard has defended consensual, harmless sexual acts between children and adults.[4] As Amos Yee recently stated,[5] there is nothing wrong with Richard's past defense of pedophilia. Richard's position was completely reasonable and he was not advocating any harm to children, nor coercive, manipulative sexual acts. He espoused these personal opinions on his personal blog, never on FSF or GNU websites.
The outrage mobs that mass-shamed Richard into stepping down are not fighting for more inclusion, they are out to create a PR disaster by assassinating his character. By punishing people for honest speech, by lynching people who disagree with certain popular views, we are creating a world of liars. Organizations, such as the FSF, should recognize that people have private lives.
Richard has every right to be skeptical of the claim that consensual pedophilia harms children, because the majority of romantic relations between children and adults are harmless, consensual and mutually beneficial.[6]
One thing we never expected to see in our lifetime is Richard resigning (instead of retiring) from the Free Software Foundation. This is so sad. Richard is smart enough to survive his way out of this mess, but the institutions that pushed him out over thoughtcrimes will suffer from their mistakes.
Signed on Thursday the 19th of September 2019,
Roman Czyborra <roman@czyborra.com>; Berlin, Germany
Free Software developer and creator of GNU Unifont
Law-abiding teleiophile who had lovely sex with a five-year-old at age six
and
Norbert de Jonge <mail@norbertdejonge.nl>; Arnhem, Netherlands
Free Software developer and creator of GNU Gradebook
Law-abiding pedophile who fell in love with a ten-year-old at age twenty
[1] https://www.fsf.org/news/richard-m-stallman-resigns
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/sep/17/mit-scientist-emails-epstein
[3] https://itsfoss.com/richard-stallman-controversy/
[4] e.g. https://stallman.org/archives/2003-mar-jun.html https://stallman.org/archives/2012-nov-feb.html#04_January_2013_(Pedophilia) https://stallman.org/archives/2006-may-aug.html#05%20June%202006%20%28Dutch%20paedophiles%20form%20political%20party%29
[5] https://www.freespeechtube.org/v/10fk
[6] e.g. https://www.nambla.org/readings.html https://www.ipce.info/ipceweb/Library/99015_research.htm http://web.archive.org/web/20180527005054/http://sci-hub.tw/10.1007/bf01541421 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2865208/