I can't believe I'm saying this, since I loathe everything about Stallman, but I'm on his side here. I read his comments, he didn't say what Vice claims he said.
It's a good example how social media outrage nobody wants to be on the wrong side, and thus, when inaccuracies happen, nobody wants to defend them. Nobody wanted to defend Minsky, and when Stallman did, nobody wanted to defend Stallman.
All Stallman said, as far as I can tell, is that Minksy might not have known she was 17/coerced. Vice twisted Stallman's words into "Epstein Victims [are] 'Entirely Willing'".
Epstein should die in a fire, as should anybody suggesting over-25 adults should be having sex with under-18yro. But at the same time, there's rational conversations to be had, such as about teens sexting each other, or 19yro-17yro romances.
Teens go on life-long sex offender registries for sexting each other, yet few are unwilling to stand up and fix the law for fear of somehow being tainted by being on the wrong side. Yes, child porn is a horrorshow, but it shouldn't put teens in jail or on life-long registries.
It's unclear exactly what Stallman meant, there's a wide range of interpretation. Depending on what he actually meant, he may deserve criticism.
But it is clear that Vice's interpretation is wrong, and a deliberate lie.
But it is clear that Vice's interpretation is wrong, and a deliberate lie.
But Stallman should be giving the chance to clarify, to clearly condemn things, such as given the chance to say "If Minksy knew she was underage or coerced, then his actions would be indefensible". But in the current climate, Stallman can't say anything to defend himself.
I suspect Stallman is in the wrong here. I suspect if more details came out proving Minsky's culpability that Stallman would still defend his friend Minsky, in which case Stallman would deserve to suffer. These tweets aren't in defense of Stallman, but about that Vice headline.
In our modern toxic social media culture, nobody wants to point out problems on their own side, for fear of appearing sympathetic to the other side -- the wrong side.
