An awful lot of so-called "normal" men manage to offend women right and left. There are raft loads of women very up in arms about "normal" male behavior.
The world generally has a very long way to go to resolve that question.
> he was willfully dismissive of others feelings
I can't see why this is considered this bad honestly.
Stallman was born 67 years a go.
Autism wasn't even a thing.
Until the 1980 it was diagnosed as schizophrenia and only in 1987 a checklist for diagnosing it was proposed
Anyway, not caring too much about other people's feelings when people don't care too much about your medical condition is perfectly acceptable
Just like in the middle ages, there was only a single illness that caused fever (aptly named "fever"). More advanced illnesses required bacteria and viruses which were not invented until 1676 respectively 1892.
I wonder how genetic disorders worked back then considering genes didn't exist yet.
We have indications from many of those closest to RMS that he was willfully dismissive of others feelings. It wasn’t that he was unaware, he was both aware of his difficulties reading others, and made a choice to be dismissive.
It’s painful, I get it. I met RMS many times and still consider him to be one of our era’s great minds and one who’s actions have had nothing short of an incredible impact on society. However, he has–despite this article from his publicist–a long history of bad actions.
I believe there should always be a path forward if people wish to remain a public figure. But this path can’t start with easily disprovable excuses.