Slashdot Mirror
Richard Stallman Falls Ill At Conference
itwbennett writes "Stallman, 59, was speaking at the North Campus of the Polytechnic University of Cataluna when he started to feel ill and called for a doctor. It was originally reported in the Spanish press that Stallman was hypertensive, but it is not yet known what his eventual health status was, just that he left the building later under his own power." He is apparently okay and any significant confirmed updates will be posted here.
Stallman on the stretcher https://twitter.com/#!/Cribstopper/status/200641059389313024/photo/1/large
So, (and this is not the first time) it never ceases to amaze me that the response of some contingent of the Slashdot audience is to dig through his blog and use the worst two comments you can find to smear dirt upon him. He's a libertarian, and yes, if you take Libertarainism to its logical extreme, you might indeed believe that anything that doesn't hurt someone else should be legal. Nobody is accusing him of performing these acts, only of believing that freedom really means all possible freedom.
Like RMS, I'm getting old, and travel a lot to do talks. If I fall ill or get hit by a car, I hope you turkeys never find out.
Bruce Perens.
Great, now could you please explain what 15-18 year olds have to do with pedophilia, which is the sexual preference for prepubescent children?
"Average" pubescent developments (ability to ejaculate in boys, and menarche in girls) occur about age 12-13, and this actually occurs somewhat after the onset of puberty, as puberty is the "process" of maturation in an individual from a child's body into an adult's body, and other physiological changes are required before those milestones may be reached.
A sexual attraction for prepubescents thus implies that they are somewhere younger than age 12, and more likely several years younger than that. Not 15-18 years old.
The point is, in the power differential between an adult and a prepubescent child, no "informed consent" is possible. I guess the problem is that Stallman has never mentally and emotionally matured beyond the 12 or 13 year old phase himself, and so he doesn't understand this power difference, which is, I suppose, a common affliction where Aspies are involved. Pedophiles are predators, plain and simple. Ephebophiles (the proper term for a sexual attraction for young-but-pubescent teens, generally held to be in the 14-18-ish bracket) are sometimes (I'd argue often, except for the "of the same age range as the partner") predators as well - man-children who are incapable of having an adult relationship, and so they prey on easily manipulated and influenced teens.
Here's an easy rule of thumb for the Aspies who like to argue that banging 14 year olds is acceptable behavior for a 27 year old man:
((your age/2) + 7) = minimum acceptable age of partner.
That's the youngest acceptable age of a suitable partner for any adult over the age of 18. You go below that age, and you're looking REALLY fucking creepy, you are *probably* a damaged Lost Boy incapable of having an adult relationship, and there's a *good* chance you're downright predatory. For those of you who are spitting Cheeto crumbs of rage at the screen while mashing the "Reply to This" link right now: seek help.
So, I was offended by those comments, too.
Bruce Perens.
Yes, let's show some goddamned decency. After all, RMS has never, in your parlance, cut off a hearse to piss on someone's grave:
Nope, Stallman's a complete class act. He'd never do anything like that, he's too goddamned decent.