Guy helped make academic articles and journals available for free to people regardless of their means; guy did the same for public court documents hidden behind a paywall; guy founded a website aimed at keeping track of politicians; guy was involved in several progressive campaigns; guy also helped develop a lot of really cool freely available tech like RSS feeds, the technical architecture for Creative Commons, and the Markdown language.
When he was prosecuted for his activism, he eventually rejected a plea bargain for six months when the alternative was 30+ years in prison, and ended up committing suicide.
But yeah, he sure seems like an asshole man who only cared about himself…
You’re really centering him in movements he was a part of. I know he’s credited with a lot of “activism” such as vague, “progressive movements.” I’m saying those libertarian ideals are fundamentally dissonant with the reality of social and political life under settler-colonial capitalism. Look at the people who defend him, pay attention to their positionality.
Whatever good you want to say this guy did, he is responsible for platforming a modern fascist movement fueled by exactly these talking points. Maybe if he was actually anticapitalist instead of “pro-freedom” his positive actions wouldn’t be so outweighed.
Guy helped make academic articles and journals available for free to people regardless of their means; guy did the same for public court documents hidden behind a paywall; guy founded a website aimed at keeping track of politicians; guy was involved in several progressive campaigns; guy also helped develop a lot of really cool freely available tech like RSS feeds, the technical architecture for Creative Commons, and the Markdown language. When he was prosecuted for his activism, he eventually rejected a plea bargain for six months when the alternative was 30+ years in prison, and ended up committing suicide.
But yeah, he sure seems like an asshole man who only cared about himself…
You’re really centering him in movements he was a part of. I know he’s credited with a lot of “activism” such as vague, “progressive movements.” I’m saying those libertarian ideals are fundamentally dissonant with the reality of social and political life under settler-colonial capitalism. Look at the people who defend him, pay attention to their positionality.
Whatever good you want to say this guy did, he is responsible for platforming a modern fascist movement fueled by exactly these talking points. Maybe if he was actually anticapitalist instead of “pro-freedom” his positive actions wouldn’t be so outweighed.