[throwanem]

There's a difference between not being afraid of coming across as cringeworthy, and coming across as cringeworthy. The former doesn't ennoble the latter, and for someone who chose the role of not only originating ideas but seeking also to make them popular, the latter is a real problem.

[b3kart]

A good point re him having two roles. Speaking your mind and expressing yourself freely are both paramount for a good thinker, while both are anathemas for anything that has to do with people’s opinion and politics. Maybe the two roles just don’t combine very well.

[throwanem]

It might be similar to the concept of code-shifting in linguistics. That depends on the ability to "read a room", and whatever Stallman's virtues, that has never seemed to me to be among his skills.

To draw a comparison which will certainly infuriate everyone, Stallman might usefully be considered as a Wozniak desperately in need of a Jobs.