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Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#91

Post by kylemaxwell »

_t5yy wrote: post #43
Beliavsky wrote: post #15

From the article: "We have employees with a wide diversity of views. Our culture of openness extends to encouraging staff and community to share their beliefs and opinions in public." Clearly people with socially conservative views are not welcome at Mozilla.

"any opinion is ok, as long as you're not conservative" I used to get this constantly in HS and now in college. This type of thinking is extremely toxic and I think can be very damaging for an institutions reputation. Mozilla is no longer about "openness" it's now about a much more generic liberal world view.

Bullshit. Any opinion is okay but if you are actively working to remove existing rights from other people, you can expect opprobrium. This applies especially when leading an organization with values like Mozilla's.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#92

Post by Borogove »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #31
Oculus wrote: post #6

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. On the one hand, Brendan Eich had some beliefs that were against Mozilla's core values, but on the other hand we just showed that when a mob on the Internet wants something - they get it. It's scary because this mob has global reach, unlimited power, but isn't always right.

on the other hand we just showed that when a mob on the Internet wants something - they get it. I don't think that this follows. In this particular case, someone was promoted to a role which many felt was incompatible with his personal views; they made that known, and the person in question stepped down. That's kind of how things should work in a community enterprise. That said, I understand he's received wildly disp…

Were there actually threats? I just googled "Brendan Eich threat" and didn't see anything relevant.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#93

Post by rossjudson »

coreymgilmore wrote: post #21

Well it happened. I think this is a little extreme and that he shouldn't have succumbed to the pressure. Apparently freedom of speech is no longer accepted by plenty of people in the US. It is okay to put money towards and protest for equal rights, but anytime someone says something negative against it all hell breaks loose. That being said, in general, I think people are a little too sensitive toward anything non-po…

Claiming there's no longer any freedom of speech is rather foolish. This is about proportionality of response. When is it OK to take direct, personal, and extreme action against an individual? Did Eich's conduct rise to that level?

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#94

Post by isleyaardvark »

zobzu wrote: post #4

"Congrats" - All that makes me feel personally is that the people who pushed for this are extremists as well. I don't know if that's a good move by Mozilla as well, although my guess is that it's a personal move from Eich who couldn't handle the pressure and the death threats (which, to be honest, I understand - even if some will say a CEO is supposed to be stronger than that).

What death threats?

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#95

Post by Touche »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #38
amaral-herberth wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not right on this one. Eich was clearly persecuted politically.

Who persecuted Eich? His detractors were merely engaging in their freedom of speech. You know, free market and all that.

It's about being a gracious victor. Yes, Eich was on the wrong side of history when he supported prop 8 those years ago.

Yes, those who support gay marriage are "right" and history will show this. But the graceful thing to do when you're right is not to curb-stomp those who were wrong. It's not to rub it in their face. It's not to ruin their lives because they made a mistake.

The graceful thing to do when you are right is to let those who were wrong to get away with it. To let them pretend like it never happened.

Because "winning" history is not about destroying those who opposed you.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#96

Post by Borogove »

avenger123 wrote: post #72
chrismonsanto wrote: post #11

My #1 question -- is Eich returning to CTO, another position, or quitting altogether? All in all, I think this was a pragmatic move. I am not a fan of this "CEO = literally the company" logic, though. I saw no reason to believe that he would use Mozilla to further an anti-gay agenda.

The statement was intentionally vague in this. I wouldn't be surprised if he stays in a C-level position.

Oddly, I have little problem with him staying as CTO. CEO is symbolic.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#97

Post by rjknight »

toyg wrote: post #24
zobzu wrote: post #4

"Congrats" - All that makes me feel personally is that the people who pushed for this are extremists as well. I don't know if that's a good move by Mozilla as well, although my guess is that it's a personal move from Eich who couldn't handle the pressure and the death threats (which, to be honest, I understand - even if some will say a CEO is supposed to be stronger than that).

> the people who pushed for this are extremists as well. Suffragettes were extremists. Worker-rights supporters were extremists. Gandhi was an extremist. M. L. King Jr. was an extremist. Sans-culottes were extremists. In the history of civilisation, there are winners and there are losers, and when the revelation of who is who eventually comes, it can be a bit ugly to watch.

This is true. I've always liked the distinction made here: http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbli... between extremism and fanaticism. Extremists are those with views beyond the mainstream, and fanatics are those with views that, mainstream or otherwise, are so strongly held that they cannot accept disagreement.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#99

Post by kylemaxwell »

_t5yy wrote: post #43
Beliavsky wrote: post #15

From the article: "We have employees with a wide diversity of views. Our culture of openness extends to encouraging staff and community to share their beliefs and opinions in public." Clearly people with socially conservative views are not welcome at Mozilla.

"any opinion is ok, as long as you're not conservative" I used to get this constantly in HS and now in college. This type of thinking is extremely toxic and I think can be very damaging for an institutions reputation. Mozilla is no longer about "openness" it's now about a much more generic liberal world view.

Bullshit. Any opinion is okay but if you are actively working to remove existing rights from other people, you can expect opprobrium. This applies especially when leading an organization with values like Mozilla's.
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