current events, fsf
@josias @wuwei @wizzwizz4 thanks. Singular /they/ is easy to adapt to, to where it feels natural. RMS's proposal is awkward & I don't see "ey" or "zhe" catching on. But what's even more bizarre is that the RMS smear campaign tries to make him into a bigoted monster for it. It's clear that he is keen to have a gender neutral pronoun & from his other writings he's sensitive to transexuals.
current events, fsf
@resist1984 @josias @wuwei He implies (and, from what rumours I've heard from others, also practices) that he'll call he/him/his users by he/him/his, but they/them/their (or neopronoun) users by perse/per/per. That's Othering. It's hurtful.
I have no doubt: he doesn't mean to hurt people. Doesn't want to, even. But he acts as though pet literary project is more important than other people's mental wellbeing, and so they/neopronoun users can't interact with the FSF leadership.
current events, fsf
If someone wants to be called X, he should be called X.
While I could easily belive RMS not respecting that, I haven't seen him do it.(Haven't looked too far though)
If you accidentally have an example of him doing it I would love to have that link.
current events, fsf
@resist1984 @josias @wuwei It'd be fine if he said “I'll use ‘they’ for specific individuals if they really insist” – but he didn't say that. He said:
> […] "per" [pronouns …] respect any gender identification, just as […] "they" […].
Richard Stallman cares a lot about others, and about caring about them. But he hasn't *actually* changed his behaviour where it counts.
I don't have enough evidence to declare him a bad *person* (nor do I want to), but he's a bad leader.