Re:The contradictions are lost on them (Score 1)

Incorrect, or at least misleadingly lacking. The GPL does control what you can do with software, but the things it tries to prevent you from doing are limiting others. If the license prevents you from limiting others, I refuse to consider that a negative limitation. You may disagree, of course. This argument strikes me as the choice vs. freedom argument. Freedom implies choice, but not the converse. Similarly here, control is not always negative if its purpose is to prevent you from controlling others.