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Mozilla employees tell Brendan Eich he needs to “step down”

arstechnica.com

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Re: Mozilla employees tell Brendan Eich he needs to “step down”

#31

Post by hapless »

eigenvector wrote: post #4

The fact that they can come out and say this demonstrates that these employees, the people best able to assess this, don't believe that Eich will retaliate. That Mozilla is and remains a place where any employee can express their views on political issues, even if they know they're contrary to the CEO's. And that destroys any argument for Eich's role as CEO creating a conflict with Mozilla's ability to welcome LGBTQ…

We have secret ballots for a reason: what you do in public has consequences.

When you speak in public, it's possible that you will face censure from your employers, your employees, or your customers. You can't control how other people feel about what your actions.

Re: Mozilla employees tell Brendan Eich he needs to “step down”

#32

Post by simias »

stormcrowsx wrote: post #19
eigenvector wrote: post #4

The fact that they can come out and say this demonstrates that these employees, the people best able to assess this, don't believe that Eich will retaliate. That Mozilla is and remains a place where any employee can express their views on political issues, even if they know they're contrary to the CEO's. And that destroys any argument for Eich's role as CEO creating a conflict with Mozilla's ability to welcome LGBTQ…

Eich was actively trying to stop what many people think should be a human right. He should face flak, and get a hard time over it, they should threaten his position. Even if they don't get him out of CEO it will make the next idiot that's high up in a company think twice before donating to stop human rights.

Come on, he didn't fund the war in Uganda. I don't share his views or anything but I don't see why "not liking the gays" or whatever should have any influence at all on whether or not he's suitable to run a tech company. It's not a political office.

Re: Mozilla employees tell Brendan Eich he needs to “step down”

#36

Post by jackmaney »

eigenvector wrote: post #4

The fact that they can come out and say this demonstrates that these employees, the people best able to assess this, don't believe that Eich will retaliate. That Mozilla is and remains a place where any employee can express their views on political issues, even if they know they're contrary to the CEO's. And that destroys any argument for Eich's role as CEO creating a conflict with Mozilla's ability to welcome LGBTQ…

> The fact that they can come out and say this demonstrates that these employees, the people best able to assess this, don't believe that Eich will retaliate.

Or they're willing to risk speaking out, regardless.

Re: Mozilla employees tell Brendan Eich he needs to “step down”

#37

Post by brandon272 »

I have a huge level of mental conflict on this issue!

I am a supporter of equal rights and gay marriage. When I see comparisons made to other civil rights issues (i.e. "Would we accept this guy as CEO if he thought interracial marriage was wrong?" or "Would we accept this guy as CEO if he thought women deserved less pay?") it seems like a no brainer to me that, no, a person who held those views would never be tolerated as a CEO. And gay marriage, gay rights are an important issue and should be held in the same regard. Using that logic, one could conclude he is not CEO material. Not to mention that as a representative of the company they are getting some unpleasant press over this, nor does he seem to have the confidence of his employees that a leader should have.

On the other hand, it seems distasteful to me that we say to people, "We don't like your views. You need to go away now." ... Shouldn't diversity of thought, diversity of social and cultural and religious views be considered a good thing in an organization? Shouldn't we be trying to build teams of people with whom we aren't always going to agree on things with?

Re: Mozilla employees tell Brendan Eich he needs to “step down”

#38

Post by angersock »

davidgerard wrote: post #13
eigenvector wrote: post #4

The fact that they can come out and say this demonstrates that these employees, the people best able to assess this, don't believe that Eich will retaliate. That Mozilla is and remains a place where any employee can express their views on political issues, even if they know they're contrary to the CEO's. And that destroys any argument for Eich's role as CEO creating a conflict with Mozilla's ability to welcome LGBTQ…

>when there is no documented instance of him ever disparaging or otherwise harming LGBTQ employees or community members. Except the bit where he contributed $1000 to a campaign to vilify them and take away their rights.

Here's the proposition's full text:

http://www.ag.ca.gov/cms_pdfs/initiatives/i737_07-0068_Initi...

It hardly vilifies anyone--it's pretty stupidly worded as is ("marriage"? What is that? How does it compare with "civil union"?)

Look, did you vote for Obama or Bush? Then you too have actively vilified people and acted to take away their rights.

We can't punish people for participating in our form of government, even if we disagree with them. Aaargh.

Re: Mozilla employees tell Brendan Eich he needs to “step down”

#39

Post by m0a0t0 »

hkphooey wrote: post #30
eigenvector wrote: post #4

The fact that they can come out and say this demonstrates that these employees, the people best able to assess this, don't believe that Eich will retaliate. That Mozilla is and remains a place where any employee can express their views on political issues, even if they know they're contrary to the CEO's. And that destroys any argument for Eich's role as CEO creating a conflict with Mozilla's ability to welcome LGBTQ…

People are employed on what they contribute to the company, not on their social or political views. If these employees are such bigots and fascists, that they can't fathom someone having a different opinion to their own, they should resign and work elsewhere. Mozilla is a technology company with the mission to promote a free and open web. If these employees believed that Mozilla was some kind of political organisatio…

So preventing equality is not bigotry then? I would argue that calling out something like that is noble, not fascist.

Labelling the people who criticised Eich as fascists is as bad as calling him one for his beliefs.

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