Even if he does, it in no way whatsoever excuses his awful behaviour, abuse and harassment. And it is cowardly and incredibly insulting to those who do suffer from it to claim it is.

It's not a carte blanche, but acting socially inappropriately is a hallmark of Autism-Spectrum disorders. I do believe that does excuse or at least re-frame certain behaviors that might be otherwise construed as "awful" or "abusive". Intent matters.

It really, really does not. I think you should try to first go find out what the behaviours actually are. It's not just having awkward opinions or butting into conversations.

Like, https://twitter.com/grok_/status/1375049417926053894

He also ate ”something” from his own foot, in public. I’m not saying his behavior is not highly inappropriate for an adult man. I simply refuse to attribute malice. He probably thought it was hilarious to lick the arm of someone he just met.

People have been telling him, over and over and over, for years, that his behaviour is not appropriate. He does little to nothing to change it.

It depends. I haven't heard of him licking anyone's arm again. He does change his mind if you can convince him. Otherwise, he is just going to be inappropriate in novel ways, because he can't tell what inappropriate is. Also, if he disagrees that something is inappropriate and you fail to make a convincing argument as to why it is, he will not change that behavior.

Short of calling it a diagnosis, those are all hallmarks of ASD, which you should recognize if you have ever dealt with such people in depth. If you haven't, consider moderating your judgement.

Look. Pretty much everyone who has interacted with him keeps saying, over and over, that he is an absolutely awful person, that he is abusive, and that people keep telling him this and he keeps not doing anything whatsoever to change.

I am going to choose to believe all of those people, and I am going to choose not to insult everyone suffering from ASD by claiming that that is how a person with ASD acts.

Because that is a very awful thing to claim.

> Pretty much everyone who has interacted with him keeps saying, over and over, that he is an absolutely awful person, that he is abusive, and that people keep telling him this and he keeps not doing anything whatsoever to change.

This is a brazenly dishonest statement. You obviously can't know "pretty much everyone" who has interacted with him, nor have all these people given a testimony for you to judge.

I don't personally like RMS either. I have no trouble believing that he is a difficult and sometimes hostile person to work with. What I do have a problem with is the rampant dishonesty exhibited by people who clearly have an agenda going for them, trying to take the man down. To that end, I demand "due process".

> I am going to choose to believe all of those people, and I am going to choose not to insult everyone suffering from ASD by claiming that that is how a person with ASD acts. Because that is a very awful thing to claim.

I have been precise in saying how a person with ASD might act and how that might be misinterpreted as "awful". If you misrepresent what I said as an excuse for anything RMS has ever done, including things that I may be unaware of, that's just more dishonesty on your part.

So are you saying that those who accuse rms of abusive and harassing behaviour are lying?

No, I'm accusing you specifically of being dishonest.

And what does that achieve? Who the fuck cares about me?

You should care.

You do know what hyperbole is, right.