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Comment by toxik | Hacker News Reader

Humanity is converging on ideological monoculture. There is one correct way to think, and if you're dumb enough to step outside of those bounds, people _will_ come after you, and destroy whatever you have. One comment here even suggested that RMS is a rapist in so many words, really?

I submit that you cannot have innovation without inconvenient characters. You must allow a plurality of ideas and ideals to exist, even those that you find dumb or repulsive.

I don't personally like RMS very much, he seems like an annoying person, but he should not have had his life ruined for what amounted to an pedantic argument on a mailing list.

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Even the US isn’t an ideological monoculture. The woke are ~8% of the US population. No one in China cares. The social strata in India and Pakistan that ape the English speaking world is on the retreat politically.

This cultural moment is mostly a US thing, and to a lesser extent an Anglosphere thing, with especially English proficient vassal states like the Dutch or Scandinavians also taking part. If it ever burns out in the US it’ll just disappear everywhere else in short order.

RMS life was not ruined for an argument on a mailing list, but because he has no allies because he’s constitutionally incapable of playing politics.

It may be true that "the woke," as they are so disparagingly called, is a small group. Actually, I'd say 8% isn't a very small group at all -- but that is besides the point. The point is that this small group has much more than 8% impact on the outcomes of events like these. They may be 8% of the general population, but they are 99% of the people who care at all.

I agree, however every time this discussion comes up I feel conflicted about agreeing because it usually devolves into smearing the left, as if it was some monolithic entity.

You did not frame it that way, which I really appreciate, because I view myself as a leftist, but find these groups detrimental.

I refer to them as sofa activists, whose goal in life is to feel good, without actually doing anything that can't be done from the comfort of their sofa, that is most impactful, worthy changes.

In fact RMS himself is a leftist. The woke group is extremely vocal and extremely damaging to the left-wing movements worldwide, but it is still a minority.

Relevant reading:

1. https://medium.com/incerto/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dict...

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance

Logical conclusion: To be intolerant of intolerance is a moral virtue.

I am having trouble deciding if this is a race to the top or bottom.

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