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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

#591

Post by byuu »

devindotcom wrote: post #124
matthewmacleod wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Not to minimize the issue, but receiving death threats is rapidly becoming part of being a public figure on the Internet. Columnists, reporters, celebrities, and many others receive them all the time. It's definitely unacceptable, but it's not like we have shown an ability to control it, and I can't think of any assassinations of high-profile Internet figures. I'm surprised you're surprised at people, though! Death t…

> Not to minimize the issue, but receiving death threats is rapidly becoming part of being a public figure on the Internet.

Indeed, I've gotten quite a few death threats myself over the years for my radical cause of trying to improve the quality of video game emulators.

The problem with the internet is that you can't really judge a person's mental state from a text post. Quite often the person on the other end making the threats is literally mentally ill.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#592

Post by peterashford »

gum_ina_package wrote: post #561
macspoofing wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, those that didn't agree with those views were free to boycott and criticize Mozilla. Mozilla Foundation was also free to live with those consequences or decide that they didn't want their brand to be associated or muddled by its CEO's accidentally public position on a very sensitive topic. My view: It's a shame that Eich decided to stand his ground on this issue. It's a real shame that he felt so s…

More important than his morality and/or religious views?

Yeah, I support Eich's brave stance to stigmatize minorities.

As another poster said, having the courage of your convictions is only great when you're doing good. Being convinced you're on a moral crusade blessed by God has several unfortunate historical precedents which I wouldn't want anyone to emulate.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#593

Post by Crito »

nilkn wrote: post #531
Crito wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobodies' right to have different viewpoints is being taken away. Nobodies' right to donate to political causes is being taken away. The only people in this entire story that were/are trying to take away the rights of others were the people who pushed for Prop 8. The right to support legislation like Prop 8 remains intact. The right to not be criticized by others for doing so has never existed in the first place. The…

I think you're dismissing what has happened too lightly. The real issue here is mob mentality, and you're underestimating the ways in which it can be dangerous and insidious. People aren't taking this seriously because in this case they disagree with Eich's opinion, so they feel it's all okay. They're letting that blind them. What if Eich actually had the "right" opinion? And this is hypothetical at this point--I'm n…

Regardless of who I think is right, I am pointing out that contrary to popular narrative, no rights have been removed from Eich.

There are and have been plenty of movements to boycott companies that I am certain are misguided. "One Million Moms" is an example of a group that organizes pushback on companies that I feel is wrong.

Even in those cases, it is their right. If they had been putting pressure on Eich to step down because he supported same-sex marriage, I would maintain that no rights were being removed from Eich.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#594

Post by dkrich »

nostrademons wrote: post #199
danpalmer wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This line of reasoning is very troubling to me, because 20 years ago it was pretty much unacceptable in the U.S. to hold the opinion that gays were entitled to full legal rights, let alone the ability to marry. That changed only because some very courageous people stuck their neck out, weathered all the flack and negative personal repercussions towards themselves, and gradually made the point of "Why not?" I fully su…

Which part is troubling to you then? Eich has every right to hold his beliefs, and Mozilla has every right to ask for his resignation when they believe his beliefs run too contrary to their own.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#595

Post by jiggy2011 »

thumbtackthief wrote: post #369
eternalban wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this line of reasoning is very troubling to me .. This entire affair is troubling. This individual's livelihood was affected because of his socio-political views and activities. Your 2nd paragraph correctly underlines the more important issue.

What if had been donating to the KKK instead? Do you think he could accurately represent his employees of color? Or for a less cut-and-dry example: If he had donated to Pro-Life organizations, would you expect him to be accepted as CEO of Planned Parenthood? Your socio-political views and activities have consequences. If you believe strongly enough in them, you will weather them. His views and activities certainly ha…

There are probably lots of pro-life CEOs running companies that are not related to abortion.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#596

Post by FreedomFan »

This is awful. I never thought I'd see the tech community target a person like this for a witchhunt because of what are presumably religious beliefs. Eich did nothing illegal. All he did was exercise his First Amendment right. There's no reason to believe that he would ever allow his personal beliefs to affect his decisions as a CEO.

Basically, this is thoughtcrime.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#597

Post by mpalmer »

viggity wrote: post #322
matthewmacleod wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diversity as a concept cannot legitimately be defined to include intolerance as an attribute to be protected. Swap out "anti-gay-marriage" for "racist" or "anti-semitic" – it would be difficult to argue that calling for the resignation of an active campaigner against racial equality was "anti-diversity"; the same applies here.

I was against prop 8, it was stupid, but people act like it was going to throw members of the LGBT in prison or death camps or something.

Not sure if you're a member of the LGBT community or not, but it sounds like your argument here is that because the reactions of others against Prop 8 were stronger than your own, they were invalid.

It's not a very tenable position to take. Do you really believe the outcry over putting minorities in prison would parallel that of Prop 8?

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#598

Post by yohui »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #420
thinkpad20 wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The majority that voted . Those in favor were more likely to go out and vote than those opposed. Many of the opinion polls showed that more people were opposed, but clearly not enough of them actually went to the ballot. Either way, I'm confident that the same measure today would have a snowball's chance in hell of passage.

That's the way democracy works, though. If about 320,000 more conservative voters had turned out to vote in several swing states in 2012, we'd have a different President in the White House. That doesn't mean Romney should have won, though. It's the people who turn out to vote who get to decide. If you don't care enough to vote, tough beans!

> That's the way democracy works, though.

> It's the people who turn out to vote who get to decide. If you don't care enough to vote, tough beans!

Democracies with more complete voter participation don't seem generally worse off for it.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#599

Post by blisterpeanuts »

This outcome makes me sad. Although I support legally recognized gay marriage with all the accompanying benefits such as hospital visitation rights and next-of-kin status (arguably these are the two real benefits), I most emphatically do not support the political correctness attacks on Mozilla's co-founder.

Mozilla and the open source community have been gravely hurt by this move. The witch hunt to oust Eich from Mozilla was not just unfair, it was a travesty. He co-founded Mozilla and created some of the key technologies in Mozilla products.

I am much less inclined to support Mozilla monetarily or in any other capacity from this point on. Call me a hypocrite, call me whatever you like, but I feel that strongly. This guy should not have been treated this way.

What's more, I suspect that were he a white female or a black person or an Asian instead of a white male, the voices of hate would have been more muted. It's much harder to criticize a person "of color" or a female in this politically correct era, out of fear of being called out as a hypocrite. Which I believe them to be, anyway.

This has done nothing to improve the lot of gay Americans; in fact, it is a sorry blot on the history of gay rights and decent people of whatever sexual orientation will ultimately distance themselves from it. Mob rule is nothing to be proud of.

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