I don't disagree that politics and software have close ties. But I fervently disagree with the particular politics of the FSF, even though we share common goals.
However, the FSF is absolutist and views their particular politics as inseparable from the goals, almost as if the politics are the goal itself. This is at best childish, because mixed in with their message that contains "inconvenient truth" they also include a lot of unnecessary BS. The logic that accompanies their political reasoning is patchy and convoluted at best, but these holes are pasted over with overwhelming passion and feeling.
I could support a more rational organization or lobby group, even if I didn't agree 100% with their politics, if we shared common goals. The FSF makes that impossible. They will therefore see no support from me, despite my continued support for our common goals.
> the FSF is absolutist and views their particular politics as inseparable from the goals
I often see this kind of hyperbole and it seems very meaningless to me. Their particular strategy has remained pretty consistent and has managed to fund development of a good number of successful projects. If it's their PR you have a problem with, what is it that you want them to say? That it's okay to support the use of proprietary software sometimes, even though that's completely against the whole point?
However, the FSF is absolutist and views their particular politics as inseparable from the goals, almost as if the politics are the goal itself. This is at best childish, because mixed in with their message that contains "inconvenient truth" they also include a lot of unnecessary BS. The logic that accompanies their political reasoning is patchy and convoluted at best, but these holes are pasted over with overwhelming passion and feeling.
I could support a more rational organization or lobby group, even if I didn't agree 100% with their politics, if we shared common goals. The FSF makes that impossible. They will therefore see no support from me, despite my continued support for our common goals.