ESR would try to shoot you full of holes as soon as you step on his property for breaking the NAP.
E: checked his blog, he legit is worried the communists are taking over the state atm in the USA. Because people are saying there should be gun control.
But yeah the thing that gets me too is like it’s one thing to have
those views and publicly express them but it’s in an e-mail that
everybody in the department gets including undergrads?!?
It's a mailing list called `csail-related`, it goes to everyone who explicitly subscribed to that mailing list.
https://lists.csail.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/csail-related
It is extremely unlikely that everybody in the CS department subscribed. There are literally hundreds of mailing lists on the CSAIL mailing list server. Here's a list https://lists.csail.mit.edu/
I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/LInux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.
The content of the email is terrible, and the chosen medium and
audience is even worse.
But it’s cheap and counterproductive to tar “tech”, specifically,
with that brush.
Jeffrey Epstein. Marvin Minsky. Richard Stallman. Travis Kalanick.
James Damore. The laundry list of men in tech and academia who have
continued this pattern of harassment, misogyny, and discrimination.
Chinese robbers, people! You could draw up similar lists of shitty
men from politics, journalism or entertainment (the industry where
#MeToo started).
The world does not deserve them either. I thought back to every
person who has ever asked me how to “fix” the gender problems in STEM,
how to “get more girls” to join STEM programs. […] The problems are
so obvious. […] There are many women and many girls who, in
spite of everything, love STEM-related disciplines. Some of them even go
through 4-year bachelors degrees at MIT, maybe even 7 years of a PhD,
and then begin questioning whether they should continue in these fields,
because they are filled to the brim with so, so many shitty
men.
This is bullshit for the same reason. None of the fields named above
have a male-female skew like STEM. A field like healthcare is
overwhelmingly female, and the stories about macho surgeons abusing
their power absolutely abound. One of the most infamous #MeToo
stories in my country (NL) was about professors seducing and
manipulating students at a theatre academy – one of the most female and
least STEM-y fields imaginable.
Are there deep-seated cultural issues discouraging girls from going
into STEM? Yes.
Is the particular shittiness of STEM men a decisive factor in that?
No.
Does ranting about “techbros” in thinkpiece after thinkpiece enable
the Scott A.s of this world to push their “see, feminism is ackshully
just about bullying nerdy/autistic/STEM guys” argument? Absolutely.
Certain kinds of environments – high pressure, isolation from the
outside world, rockstar status at the top of the pyramid,
insecure/dependent positions at the bottom, etc. – are always going to
be hazard areas for sexual harassment. The field it’s in doesn’t matter,
and singling out this field or the other for blame doesn’t help to gain
understanding of any real problem – just to gain a lot of unnecessary
enemies.
Healthcare is female, but surgery is the exception iirc, which is pretty male dominated.
Anyway, for the rest, don't think you can really blame her for not taking the super big picture view.
The problem isn't STEM men, the problem is men would be a nice conclusion. (Looking at how many gay men are turning anti-lbt, this isn't even that far off).
>(Looking at how many gay men are turning anti-lbt, this isn't even that far off).
I wasn't aware that this was a thing. Plenty of gay men have been "anti-lbt" for a long time, and I've received the sharp end of that myself, but is it trending upwards? Mostly in my own bubble I've seen an increase in the visibility of lesbian anti-trans and anti-"male" rhetoric as the big upswing of late.
no idea tbh, I only recently (like the past few years) really realized that a lot of gay men didn't have much solidarity, can't say if the numbers are going up down or remaining constant.
In my personal group I don't think any people have turned more anti lgbt, more pro I think, but that is pretty non-typical, and it also is slightly self selecting.
So, not to be a doubter as such, but how do you mean "Looking at how many gay men are turning anti-lbt", given this context? Such as in terms of things you've noticed?
I meant more I always thought gay men would be lgbt supporters, until a few years ago I had no idea there was a non trivial vocal group of anti lbt gay men. So yeah only in terms of me noticing. I phrased it badly.
Eh, I'd rather say the problem is power structures. I'm not sure women can't be just as bad when they get the chance. (See: horror stories about sadistic nuns at Catholic boarding schools, or about extreme bullying/slutshaming among high school and college girls.) Just, they don't tend to rise to abuse-enabling unchecked power positions nearly as often as men.
My general theory would go something like this: "Everyone, male or female, has a certain degree of abusive-asshole-ness. Due to complicated cultural reasons, men are less socialised to withstand their asshole tendencies than women, especially around sex and aggression. Also due to complicated cultural reasons, men disproportionaly end up in powerful positions which enable abuse, whereas women disproportionately end up in insecure positions which make them vulnerable to abuse. (Oh, and the fact that, on average, men can physically overpower women doesn't help matters.)"
I'd put emphasis on the latter and also break down the division you've made. I don't think women are either more or less socialised to "withstand their asshole tendencies", but whatever tendencies one has (and these will be socialised to) will tend to find different expression depending on social circumstance.
whenever something someone in the rationalsphere says gets me down, i
can always cheer up with the solace that i’m not 1 to 3 degrees removed
from jeffery epstein.
Not the first time he’s gone and put his foot in his mouth, eyyyyy
Arguing about the semantics of the term “sexual assault” is exactly the kind of insensitivity I expect of Stallman
Richard Stallman still lives in the 1970s, apparently.
[deleted]
So, paraphrasing:
sounds like someone needs to start investigating richard stallman.
But yeah the thing that gets me too is like it’s one thing to have those views and publicly express them but it’s in an e-mail that everybody in the department gets including undergrads?!?
Damn, that sucks. His views on open source software are a bit eccentric, but pretty interesting. It’s too bad he’s such an asshole.
The content of the email is terrible, and the chosen medium and audience is even worse.
But it’s cheap and counterproductive to tar “tech”, specifically, with that brush.
Chinese robbers, people! You could draw up similar lists of shitty men from politics, journalism or entertainment (the industry where #MeToo started).
This is bullshit for the same reason. None of the fields named above have a male-female skew like STEM. A field like healthcare is overwhelmingly female, and the stories about macho surgeons abusing their power absolutely abound. One of the most infamous #MeToo stories in my country (NL) was about professors seducing and manipulating students at a theatre academy – one of the most female and least STEM-y fields imaginable.
Are there deep-seated cultural issues discouraging girls from going into STEM? Yes.
Is the particular shittiness of STEM men a decisive factor in that? No.
Does ranting about “techbros” in thinkpiece after thinkpiece enable the Scott A.s of this world to push their “see, feminism is ackshully just about bullying nerdy/autistic/STEM guys” argument? Absolutely.
Certain kinds of environments – high pressure, isolation from the outside world, rockstar status at the top of the pyramid, insecure/dependent positions at the bottom, etc. – are always going to be hazard areas for sexual harassment. The field it’s in doesn’t matter, and singling out this field or the other for blame doesn’t help to gain understanding of any real problem – just to gain a lot of unnecessary enemies.
whenever something someone in the rationalsphere says gets me down, i can always cheer up with the solace that i’m not 1 to 3 degrees removed from jeffery epstein.
https://stallman.org/archives/2019-jul-oct.html#16_September_2019_(Resignation)
He removed himself, and learned nothing.