Re: [vox] Stallman on Slashdot

[Rick Moen <rick@liMAPSnuxmafia.com>]

Quoting Eric Engelhard (eric_cl@pacbell.net):

> Not coercive, but presumptuous as hell.

It's presumptuous to say "If you do foo, I'll come speak.  If you don't,
I won't"?  I must say, I don't understand.

Are you under the impression that the man is a public utility?  If not,
why is it "presumptuous" for him to set conditions for what he's willing
to do with his free time?

> Instead he demands that SIGs concede on the issue and alter their
> identity prior to his arrival.

Words like "demands" in this context are a bit emotionally unbalanced,
or at least severely lacking in the perspective one associates with a 
sane outlook:  Putting a gun to your forehead would make it a demand.  
Saying "I won't come speak unless you do foo" cannot be reasonably
termed a demand.

> I don't believe it is as pure as that. I think it is far more likely
> that Stallman receives more speaking requests than he can field.

If so, what makes this "pure"?  More to the point, what possible
relevance does "purity" have to the foregoing discussion?  Even more to
the point, what the hell are you doing second-hand-guessing the man's
motives?  That's not only tacky, but also irrelevant to the subject
under discussion.

> Is he under the illusion that this is helping GNU?

Is there some special reason why you feel a need to change the subject?

The point is:  Even if he said he'd only troop all the way to hell and
gone over to Texas to speak to SIGLINUX only if they changed their name
to the League of Red-Headed, Left-Handed, Esperanto Teachers, that is
neither "coercive" nor "presumptuous".  Neither you, Joe Barr, SIGLINUX, 
or anyone else besides Mr. Stallman have much business expressing
opinions on conditions he imposes for travelling to speak to groups, 
unless and until you either hire him or are declared his mommy.

-- 
Cheers,     "Learning Java has been a slow and tortuous process for me.  Every 
Rick Moen   few minutes, I start screaming 'No, you fools!' and have to go
rick@linuxmafia.com       read something from _Structure and Interpretation of
            Computer Programs_ to de-stress."   -- The Cube, www.forum3000.org
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