[ ... ]
> I'd rather suffer dental surgery
> without anesthetic than learn Unix.
Of course, the point being made is not that you should learn Unix, but rather that you should think about how software is made, under what economic and social pressures, and choose accordingly as a consumer. Stalman doesn't want you to write code (unless you can, in which case you "should"), he wants you to *use* code that was made in this way.
It's absolutely no different than thinking about Nike shoes are made, and takes no more work.
/jordan