Then again,
punning and wordplay are common hacker traits. Perhaps
the most Groucho-like aspect of Stallman's personality,
however, is the deadpan manner in which the puns are
delivered. Most come so stealthily-without even the
hint of a raised eyebrow or upturned smile-you almost
have to wonder if Stallman's laughing at his audience
more than the audience is laughing at him.
Watching members of the Maui High Performance Computer
Center laugh at the St. Ignucius parody, such concerns
evaporate. While not exactly a standup act, Stallman
certainly possesses the chops to keep a roomful of
engineers in stitches. "To be a saint in the Church of
Emacs does not require celibacy, but it does require
making a commitment to living a life of moral purity,"
he tells the Maui audience. "You must exorcise the evil
proprietary operating system from all your computer and
then install a wholly [holy] free operating system. And
then you must install only free software on top of
that. If you make this commitment and live by it, then
you too will be a saint in the Church of Emacs, and you
too may have a halo.
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