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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

#131

Post by dopamean »

DangerousPie wrote: post #45

I am a strong supporter of gay marriage, but I have to say that I find this very unfortunate and worrying. Apparently many Mozilla supporters seem to think it is okay to bully a qualified person out of his job only for his political views, even if they had absolutely no effect on his qualification or his actions on the job. I can't help but feel like this campaign has done a lot more harm to him than his $1000 donati…

I generally agree with you but I think the problem here is that being against gay marriage is more than just a "political view." Being for low taxes is a political view. Being for smaller government is a political view. Believing a certain group of people don't deserve to live their lives like other simply because of who they love is not a political view. It reads as extremely hateful and that makes people uncomfortable. I would be uncomfortable if the head of the company I worked for felt that way.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#133

Post by mjburgess »

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.

Throughout this saga, and with religiously motivated bigotry in general there has been a politicization of the language and the issue as though it were not a moral concern, merely something a "social conservative" and a "social liberal" can disagree about with mutual tolerance.

This isnt whether taxation is 38% or 35% this is whether people of a different sexual orientation are to be treated as people. I have very little patience with spineless calls for "respect" for those who which to preserve institutional disrespect.

Tolerance is over-rated and has done very little for any one.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#134

Post by Borogove »

phillmv wrote: post #14

From the recode recap - http://recode.net/2014/04/03/mozilla-co-founder-brendan-eich... >“It’s clear that Brendan cannot lead Mozilla in this setting,” said Baker, who added that she would not and could not speak for Eich. “The ability to lead — particularly for the CEO — is fundamental to the role and that is not possible here.” The most damning aspect of this was their a) inability to predict this would be an issue…

All he had to do was learn.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#135

Post by zobzu »

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.

i'm pretty sure hes quitting.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#136

Post by hackinthebochs »

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.

The problem I have with all of this is the manner in which it occurred. The "mob" here had a disproportionate voice and thus disproportionate political power. This is a real problem with our culture today, instances of which can be seen at all levels of society. Any group who can "hack" the media to create a narrative that suits their cause (whether through quirk of politics or through large amounts of money) can have nearly unlimited power in our society. There must be a line somewhere. The fact that there doesn't seem to be one is terrifying.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#137

Post by rjknight »

I feel bad about this because several good people did defend the principle that an employee's personal views should be allowed to remain purely personal, that we should be able to get along in society even with those who we are vehemently opposed to in the political sphere.

I worry that this will now be seen as a defeat for that principle, as proof that your political views will be held against you if you become prominent enough, and given the data trails that we all leave behind us, that could get ugly. Some (but not all!) of the people who campaigned for him to quit were themselves dismissive of this principle, and if they 'won' then I can't really say I'm happy about it.

EDIT: clarity

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#138

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

weixiyen wrote: post #58
phillmv wrote: post #14

From the recode recap - http://recode.net/2014/04/03/mozilla-co-founder-brendan-eich... >“It’s clear that Brendan cannot lead Mozilla in this setting,” said Baker, who added that she would not and could not speak for Eich. “The ability to lead — particularly for the CEO — is fundamental to the role and that is not possible here.” The most damning aspect of this was their a) inability to predict this would be an issue…

So the ideal CEO is someone who will lie about his beliefs the second it becomes inconvenient for him?

Also works well in politics, apparently.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#139

Post by _t5yy »

agapos wrote: post #104
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 one hand, Brendan Eich had some beliefs that were against Mozilla's core values." Care to elaborate this? Last time I read, the Mozilla Manifeto[1] says nothing about marriage rights or anything marginally related. [1] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/manifesto/

Exactly. Mozilla is about at the end of the day "openness" unfortunately for some people at mozilla, that means working with people who's views you might not be comfortable with. This is the whole point of working in and pushing for an open society.
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