What about a harmful one? What if the CEO of a company went around the office telling anyone that’ll listen about how women are just dumber than men and really they should stay in the kitchen. I sure hope there would be consequences.
1) there are material consequences for "expressing an unpopular opinion." some of which aren't up to the person expressing them.
2) those determining the consequences, such as the organizations that let RMS go, are and should be allowed the freedom to self-govern in this way. they are well within their right to refuse to be associated with people who say these things.
Yes, and I'm arguing that a rational mature society should be capable of allowing people to express their opinions and then engaging with them if their opinion is perceived as wrong or incorrect. If, after a reasonable discussion in which everyone is able to clarify their thoughts and opinions, they are still deemed to be too extreme (and I mean genuinely extreme, not simply contrarian) then they can cut ties.
But that isn't what is happening. There is no reasonable discussion. There isn't even any attempt to understand the complexity and nuance of a situation. It's simply: you're gone. It's mob politics 101 and anyone familiar with political history has seen it time and time again.
The main consequence of this mentality will be that organizations like MIT will be filled with yes-men/women and those that toe the intellectual line. And subsequently the real losers will be society and MIT.
