There has been an interesting little tempest in a teapot in the Free Software community, which has resulted in some blog responses:
I have a slightly different perspective on this. I do not stand up for Stallman, because he has no need of my support in this regard. Stallman is perfectly capable of standing up for himself, but seems to consider it beneath him to spend time on it. Instead, he spends his efforts standing up for Free Software.
He’s not some kid to feel sorry for, he’s a fucking MacArthur genius. He invented Emacs. He wrote the GPL. He founded the Free Software movement. He’s taken on huge corporations and tyrants and all other manner of adversaries (and friends) with their slings and arrows affecting him like water affects a duck’s ass. He dines with presidents and prime ministers.
The origin of all this kerfluffle is some email that’s going around which makes Richard sound particular about his accommodations when he comes to town to give a FREE SPEECH. Well, let me say this: Richard stayed at my place in DC during some such speeches, and he never once complained about anything. At the time I lived in a bachelor shit-hole in a neighborhood in DC that was basically an open-air drug market. Not. One. Complaint.
A fucking MacArthur genius, sleeping on my couch, in my shit-hole apartment, and the only thing he ever asked for was fucking wifi.
I don’t stand up for Stallman, I look up to Stallman.
Way up.
If you don’t, it means one of two things: either you don’t know about Stallman, or you’re a tool. I don’t stand up for Stallman, but I look up to him. And I run GNU/Linux, and I use Free Software.
Because Stallman said so, that’s why.