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I don't get why people are playing devil's advocate for Stallman so much on this. If it had been anyone else, a famous actor for example, the pitchforks would be out by everyone, but because he is a figure in the computing world people want to make excuses for him. This seems more like people unwilling to accept a revered figured in their community is a bad person.

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Honestly, I've never like Stallman. I've long argued that he was a liability. The reason I'm playing devil's advocate here (I can't speak for anyone else) is that this is at least partially in response to a viral media shit-storm which at least partially misrepresented him. I've seen a lot of these happen over the years and I never like it when they happen, whether to an actor, or to tech sector person, or to a journalist, or whomever. At the very least, someone needs to play devil's advocate if only to keep us honest in our accusations. I suspect a lot of people feel this way and you're only seeing on HN because Stallman is HN relevant and most actors aren't.

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