this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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Doesn't the phrase "wrong ideas" worry you a bit? I don't agree with everything Stallman says, but I think he has a right to say it, just the same as others have the right to say they don't like it and think he's a horrible pig or whatever. This is, of course, very different from acting on beliefs like his, which could certainly end up being harmful.
But when we as a society get to the point where we say an idea is wrong, it provokes the individual to act on the idea rather than talk about it. That's why freedom of speech is so important. Let the idea air and argue with it in a civilised way, and these things will sort themselves out.
You're right.
I used the phrase "wrong ideas" precisely to evoke that sentiment. Stallman's ideas may be "wrong" for us, for good reasons. But that doesn't make them objectively wrong. And he doesn't seem to cross any legal boundary using his blog to defend some ideas we don't like.
And neither should we mix the work of FSF with Stallman's weird blog posts.