Re: General Resolution: Richard Stallman's readmission to the FSF board
Hi,
I'm a disabled person and I think that calling rms an "ableist" for what
he wrote about prenatal diagnosis is incorrect.
It shows that the author of the letter knows NOTHING about what goes on
in groups for civil liberties of disabled people and their families.
In my country, Italy, it is the religious bigots who do not want
prenatal diagnosis, because it might led to abortion, and they are
against that. Catholics also see any suffering and pain as "good", as a
way to elevate the soul towards God.
So, in short, in the letter, rms is being accused for his pro-choice views.
In the haste to label him with whatever "woke" insult, the writers and
signers of the letter ended up siding with the camp that wants to deny
women's rights.
Many years ago, I read a letter from the father of a mentally disabled
person that was described as a 2 year old inside the body of a 40 year old.
The parent said that he loved his son very much but he couldn't help to
wonder what would happen to him after he died. Would he be taken care
of? Would he be abused? So he was expressing his ideas that perhaps
prenatal diagnosis can be good. Not because he didn't love his son but
because he could not defend himself from the world after he had died.
It is of course a tragic thought and honestly I believe that while
abortion must be a right, it is always a sad event. I believe that most
abortions should not happen, because they happen either because the
mother can't support a child or she is too young to do so, and in both
cases that means that improvements to welfare and education are much
needed. But still, it is a right that must not be denied.
Honestly I do not believe it is my place to morally judge if an abortion
was performed for a good enough reason, and I believe it is not the
place of anyone to place this moral judgment onto others.
rms has expressed his controversial opinion about a small part of this
vast topic, and this is now being used against him by opportunists who
want to replace him.
To be honest, I believe that the position on abortion has absolutely
nothing to do with debian and free software in general, and people from
both opinions should be welcome to partecipate.
To conclude, I must say that as a disabled person I'm getting a bit
tired of people who self-diagnose themselves a mental illness and call
"ableist" anyone they disagree with on social media. I think it is
insulting towards real disabled people and it diminishes the struggle
and makes the term "disabled" meaningless. I don't know if this is
what's happening here, but it is a trend that I've noticed in general.
Best
--
Salvo Tomaselli
"Io non mi sento obbligato a credere che lo stesso Dio che ci ha dotato di
senso, ragione ed intelletto intendesse che noi ne facessimo a meno."
-- Galileo Galilei
http://ltworf.github.io/ltworf/
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