[ocdtrekkie]

So one thing I'm noting here is that this letter has a heavy translation/international bent. Additionally, an extremely large portion of signers have Russian-language names, for example.

Anecdotally, nearly everyone I have ever talked to or worked with in FOSS software has signed the "opposes RMS" letter, and I can't find anyone I recall or have even heard of on this one. But of course, I mostly have worked with people in the English-speaking world.

Does this sort of suggest language or culture is where the divide on this issue might stand?

[bm3719]

Slavic languages, and correspondingly their names, are common in dozens of countries besides Russia. You probably have a sizable minority of them in your own country.

The support letter is indeed more international and representative of the larger development community. I'd say this reflects well on rms, since he obviously has a wider support base. His opponents seem to represent a specific subculture that only exists in the West. If you're only surrounded by these types, then you might be the one in a bubble.

[ocdtrekkie]

"Slavic" was the word I was looking for, thank you. I am definitely aware such names are common in a wide geographic area.

I do think there may be an untested theory on whether the support letter's wider base is because of a wider support for RMS, or because by internationalizing the letter in many languages, it did a better job reaching RMS supporters than the open letter did reaching RMS opposers who don't speak English.

[orthoxerox]

Eastern Europe has no cancel culture: policing other people's thoughts is what they did in the Eastern bloc and no one wants a new incarnation of a Party or Comsomol cell secretary lecturing them about their behavior.

[hvis]

I'm fairly sure the "think of the children" type of reaction to the original email by RMS that launched the scandal is pretty US-centric, culturally speaking.

The semantic problem with terminology which he pointed out at that time also seems to be US-specific, more or less (not sure how common it is to use that turn of phrase in the UK, to be honest).

[efficax]

The author, Leah Rowe, is English as far as I know

[ocdtrekkie]

I was not, by any means, suggesting nobody who supports RMS is from any given country, merely that internationalization efforts on the support letter may have given it a larger reach, or possibly reflect cultural views not reflected by the open letter.