On Sun, May 29, 2011, Gabor Szabo wrote about "Re: FW: I have to cancel the speeches at universities": > But again, I doubt that the real reason the Palestinians wanted him to > skip Israel > is the money.
Obviously, I don't think the reason why the *Palestinians* wanted him to skip Israel was the money - the reason is that they, believe it or not, don't like us. But I do think, however, that the reason why *Stallman* is skipping Israel *is* the money, not that he doesn't like us. Perhaps the problem can be made clear by a similar (and completely hypothetical) situation, but without all the heated patriotism of both sides: Imagine that Cellcom and Orange are two Israeli companies in bitter competition. One day Cellcom invites Richard Stallman for giving a talk in Cellcom's HQ, paying for his flight, hotel, and other expenses. Orange hear this, and smell an oportunity: They can invite Stallman for free (or almost free), because his flight is already paid for, and Orange's HQ is just a few miles from Cellcom's! So Orange does invite Stallman, and Stallman accepts. A while later, Cellcom discovers that Stallman will also visit Orange, and are furious: Stallman is flying on their invitation, on their expense, and their bitter enemy Orange will benefit from his presence? No way, Jose! Cellcom quickly write Stallman a demand: If do don't cancel your plans to also visit Orange, you are no longer welcome to visit us. And of course, we won't pay for the trip. Stallman doesn't like the situation, but doesn't have many options: He understands why Cellcom doesn't want to benefit Orange (although he has no personal grudge against either Cellcom or Orange), and he *did* promise Cellcom first to visit them. Moreover, Orange never offered to finance his trip, so if he doesn't take the money from Cellcom, he won't be able to visit neither of them. I think when you use the words "Cellcom" and "Orange", it becomes clearer that Stallman isn't evil here, and didn't make any unreasonable decision. He found himself wedged between two bitter enemies, between a proverbial rock and a hard place. Finding himself in this situation doesn't make him evil, any more than it makes him a saint. And even if Stallman were this evil, Israel-hating radical like other people quickly judged him to be, it certainly doesn't reflect anything on the free software movement as a whole - any more than quirks in Albert Einstein's personality or personal life reflect on the importance or success of his theory, or physics as a whole. Nadav. -- Nadav Har'El | Sunday, May 29 2011, 25 Iyyar 5771 [email protected] |----------------------------------------- Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |Why do we drive on a parkway and park on http://nadav.harel.org.il |a driveway? _______________________________________________ Discussions mailing list [email protected] http://hamakor.org.il/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discussions
