This is mostly seemed to escape our notion. Perhaps one must die in order to be understood or recognize.
Or perhaps we need to look at things which happened a long time ago (history) to fully grasp their importance.
Case and point: http://alexeymk.com/dear-dr-stallman-the-aftermath/
I'm not sure what do you mean here. I was a totally average computer user when I found Stallman's writings (especially, "The Right to Read", and the story of the printer drivers) extremely seductive and compelling. A big part of me being genuinely interested in computers is thanks to him (and also to my father, who tried in vain to teach me to draw the mandelbrot set in gwbasic).
Honestly, has anyone ever been "alienated" by RMS? He's a very good communicator and makes funny talks with a deep message. In all venues that I have seen in person, he attracted a huge crowd that did not fit in whatever auditorium was reserved for the talk.
source: software developer late 1980s California, in the room with some of these people including Stallman in Palo Alto, discussing and presenting on this topic
People still believe this myth? 30 years on and still sour grapes from the BSD folk who were too slow and to elitist to adapt.
I think that making the very forces of copyright and profit-seeking work successfully for the benefit of free, universally available software is a feat of rare ingenuity and understanding how humans think and act.