"I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault. Bigfoot is blurry. And that's extra scary to me, because there's a large, out-of-focus monster roaming the countryside. Run. He's fuzzy. Get outta here." -- Mitch Hedberg
To me, the point of ESR's article was that one needs to adjust the message to the recipient. Be sensitive to where people are coming from, and use tactics that work with people in that situation.
Sorta like the Aikido someone mentioned earlier, and this Sufi Teaching Story:
Once upon a time, there was a man who strayed from his own country into the world known as the Land of Fools. He soon saw a number of people flying in terror from a field where they had been trying to reap wheat. "There is a monster in that field," they told him. He looked, and he saw that it was a watermelon.
He offered to kill the "monster" for them. When he had cut the melon from its stalk, he took a slice and began to eat it. The people became even more terrified of him than they had been of the melon. They drove him away with pitch forks, crying, "He will kill us next, unless we get rid of him."
It so happened that at another time another man also strayed into the Land of Fools, and the same thing started to happen to him. But, instead of offering to help them with the "monster," he agreed with them that it must be dangerous, and by tiptoeing away from it with them he gained their confidence. He spent a long time with them in their houses until he could teach them, little by little, the basic facts which would enable them not only to lose their fear of melons, but even to cultivate them themselves.
Now, has ESR adjusted his message to the recipient in addressing RMS? I gather that RMS feels that his ideals are not being heard, that they are being drowned out by the excitement of "open source" and "Linux" media buzz. "Success" has been redefined as "commercial and/or widespread popular interest" rather than adherence to or pursuit of ideals. How effective is it to tell such a person publically to "Shut up"?
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"I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault. Bigfoot is blurry. And that's extra scary to me, because there's a large, out-of-focus monster roaming the countryside. Run. He's fuzzy. Get outta here." -- Mitch Hedberg
To me, the point of ESR's article was that one needs to adjust the message to the recipient. Be sensitive to where people are coming from, and use tactics that work with people in that situation.
Sorta like the Aikido someone mentioned earlier, and this Sufi Teaching Story:
Now, has ESR adjusted his message to the recipient in addressing RMS? I gather that RMS feels that his ideals are not being heard, that they are being drowned out by the excitement of "open source" and "Linux" media buzz. "Success" has been redefined as "commercial and/or widespread popular interest" rather than adherence to or pursuit of ideals. How effective is it to tell such a person publically to "Shut up"?