Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

blog.mozilla.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 1001 posts

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#141

Post by zobzu »

sanxiyn wrote: post #101
nostrademons wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It speaks a lot to his integrity that he didn't. Would you rather have a CEO who says one thing in public and then goes and does another thing surreptitiously, or one who stands up for his beliefs even when they're unpopular?

I think this showed Eich is insufficiently dedicated to Mozilla's mission. If Eich believed he can help Mozilla's mission by being a CEO (otherwise, why bother?), is lying about an issue more important than how much you could help Mozilla's mission? Utilitarian 101. On the other hand, Eich probably didn't make such utilitarian calculation, and followed "do not lie" deontology instead. Pity.

strongly disagrees

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#142

Post by akerl_ »

danpalmer wrote: post #111
nostrademons wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It speaks a lot to his integrity that he didn't. Would you rather have a CEO who says one thing in public and then goes and does another thing surreptitiously, or one who stands up for his beliefs even when they're unpopular?

I don't think 'integrity' in the face of an opinion that is becoming more and more unacceptable to hold in our culture is a good thing. Changing your views, and admitting you were wrong is the best thing you can do.

The two sides of opinion are not "the majority opinion" and "people too stubborn to admit they're wrong".

It was once unacceptable to hold the opinion that different races were equal, and more recently it was unacceptable to hold the opinion that different genders were equal.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#143

Post by vidarh »

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…

As CEO, part of his responsibilities include the overall corporate culture. You don't see why people might be concerned that someone who put money forward to support a measure with the goal of actively discriminating a group of people might not be qualified to ensure an inclusive, non-discriminatory corporate culture?

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#144

Post by jakejake »

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.

There is a touch of irony in being inclusive. You can't allow people who have exclusive views into your group!

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#145

Post by InclinedPlane »

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.

This isn't a new thing. It's not even a recent thing. Public opinion has always been a potent force. For an organization like Mozilla I don't think it's at all surprising that public opinion has a big role in shaping who is at the helm. It's also not overly scary to me that issues of equality related to sexual orientation are now prominent enough to be a major factor in issues like the leadership of the Mozilla Organization. Indeed, personally I think it's somewhat heartening.

There are, and should be, limits to how much we allow politics to influence business, but in this case we're not talking about issues of small import. This isn't about monetary policy or minimum wages, this is an issue related to the civil rights and equitable treatment of millions of human beings. It's OK to take that issue extremely seriously.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#146

Post by nostrademons »

sanxiyn wrote: post #101
nostrademons wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It speaks a lot to his integrity that he didn't. Would you rather have a CEO who says one thing in public and then goes and does another thing surreptitiously, or one who stands up for his beliefs even when they're unpopular?

I think this showed Eich is insufficiently dedicated to Mozilla's mission. If Eich believed he can help Mozilla's mission by being a CEO (otherwise, why bother?), is lying about an issue more important than how much you could help Mozilla's mission? Utilitarian 101. On the other hand, Eich probably didn't make such utilitarian calculation, and followed "do not lie" deontology instead. Pity.

It's very hard to lead when you always say what's convenient rather than what you actually believe. I know executives like that - every word out of their mouth is a sales pitch - and their people don't trust them, the rest of the company doesn't trust them, and the public at large doesn't trust them.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#148

Post by wil421 »

Its sad this guy is losing his job over an unrelated personal choice.

But:

Who donates money to stop same sex marriage? I mean I have much bigger things on my plate than stopping someone from making a lifestyle choice. And I have MUCH better things to do with my money.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#149

Post by camus2 »

First, i want to say to Eich,that he is entitled to his opinions and noone is going to go after him with pitchforks and torches for that.

Next, I believe that was the right decision. Because it put Mozilla into a difficult position. You might think all this anger was excessive perhaps it was, yet it casted a negative image on Mozilla,since the CEO is a public figure for a company.

I hope this event will open up a real debate about gay rights and why it equal rights matter, because more rights for gays doesnt mean less rights for straight people,like civil rights for blacks did not end up reducing white people's rights, and then we can move on to other things,like you know , technology.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#150

Post by dasil003 »

akerl_ wrote: post #81
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…

I would have considered him a worse person if he'd done that. I disagree with his opinions on marriage, but he has the right to have those opinions, and to provide support for causes he believes in. I'm not shocked the he is stepping down, or that others in the organization appear to have applied substantial pressure on him to do so, but it makes me sad. Their statements about supporting freedom of speech are hollow:…

> the community has pressured him to step down because he expressed an opinion not held by the majority.

That's not true. The fact that the majority believe the idea was necessary for the pressure to be applied, but it is not why the pressure was applied. The pressure was applied because his views trample on others' rights, and equal rights is philosophically closely tied with the entire mission of an organization like Mozilla. There are many other things which the majority believe, but which most people would acknowledge an individual's right to disagree with. This issue is different because Eich's personal opinion negatively materially affects another class of people without any justification.

Post reply on HN