Re: GCC association with the FSF

[Alexandre Oliva <oliva@gnu.org>]

On Apr 11, 2021, David Malcolm via Gcc <gcc@gcc.gnu.org> wrote:

> I don't want to be in an environment where, it turns out, the leader of
> the non-profit that owns copyright on the bulk of the last 8 years of
> my work, and controls the license on the bulk of my work for the last
> 20 years, has to be patiently coached in why pedophilia is bad.

AFAIK, you actually have no real say on who the company to whom you sold
your services assigns *their* copyrights to.

As to the loaded claims you make, that's completely off topic IMHO, but
since you brought it up, I'll assume you won't mind if I point out that
pedophilia is a misnomer, and mostly unrelated with things RMS actually
wrote and wondered about.


There's a different term that applies to sexually mature non-adults, and
when it comes to them, issues are a lot less clear-cut than you imply.
Treating conversations about them as taboos or unquestionable truths
contribute to keeping things nebulous, problematic, and distant from
what science actually has to say about teen sexuality.

Think of burning people at the stake over disputing then-prevalent
flat-earth beliefs, think of the efforts to "cure" Alan Turing, and
realize how questioning prevalent but unfounded beliefs can both imperil
the person who does the questioning, and matter for the advancement of
science and of civilization.


As to the tiny bit of speculation that may have had to do with actual
sexually-immature children, I wonder what science you could share with
us in support of what you seem to believe anyone ought to just accept
unquestioningly, and how it was that you came to believe it yourself.

At the risk of having my words twisted and of being mislabeled like RMS,
I, as a caring parent who had to wonder and think these issues through
long ago, wonder how you went or would go about explaining to e.g. an
inquisitive and curious 4 year-old that hugging, kissing, caressing hair
and such pleasant things are good and desirable, as long as the people
engaging in it welcome it, but that certain other pleasant contacts,
that they are not mature enough to distinguish from the acceptable ones,
are intolerable and harmful, even when everyone involved welcomes it.

Note I'm not disputing the difference nor the harm, though I haven't
seen the science that supports it.  But I'd welcome it, and I wonder how
to do that without (i) forcing the child to accept an argument of
authority (that tends to kill curiosity and scientific pursuit), (ii)
getting the child too interested too early (prohibited stuff tends to
draw attention :-), nor (iii) instilling feelings of inappropriateness
or inadequacy that could harm their future sexual life.


This is way off topic, so feel free to respond without copying the list.
I did copy the list because, once the belief that some positions should
be held by default and unquestionably is presented as an argument to
condemn someone, it's just fair to present an opposite argument
involving questioning and pondering on the same issue.


-- 
Alexandre Oliva, happy hacker  https://FSFLA.org/blogs/lxo/
   Free Software Activist         GNU Toolchain Engineer
        Vim, Vi, Voltei pro Emacs -- GNUlius Caesar