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

The Hypocrisy Of Sam Yagan and OkCupid

uncrunched.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 311 posts

Re: The Hypocrisy Of Sam Yagan and OkCupid

#121

Post by Aqueous »

pyduan wrote: post #47

What is regrettable in all this is that no one seems to consider the possibility that people may have nuanced views about gay marriage. According to the mob you're either a saint or a bigot, and thus Eich's value as a human being was supposedly entirely determined by this one opinion he voiced in 2008. I'm staunchly in favor of gay marriage, which I consider to be a no-brainer -- but it seems to me the motivations of…

So many on the left (including myself) revere the style of politics of Nelson Mandela and yet when it comes time to actually behave like Mandela would in a given situation they completely fail, and conduct the same style of embittered, vengeful politics when they are asked to treat the other side with an attitude of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Do you think Mandela systematically purged all those whites who once supported apartheid from their positions? He did not. Why? Because forgiveness was more beneficial to the nation than recrimination.

Now that gay marriage is clearly on the march supporters, who are winning, need to treat their opposition the same way. With magnanimity and not vengefulness.

Eich is wrong about gay marriage, but he didn't deserve to be fired.

Re: The Hypocrisy Of Sam Yagan and OkCupid

#122

Post by dubfan »

bluntly_said wrote: post #8

I find the entire Eich scandal disheartening. A man lost his job (one he was undoubtedly qualified for) because people find it easier to heap hatred on someone they've never met, than to act with dignity and respect. We have some serious issues in this country, and our inability to compromise or respect a person we don't agree with is frightening. Life is filled with shades of grey, compromise is not "that nice thing…

You might find this essay by Jonathan Rauch to be interesting reading: http://reason.com/archives/1993/04/01/the-truth-hurts-the-hu...

The book this was derived from, "Kindly Inquisitors", was recently reissued, and what a timely reissue!

Re: The Hypocrisy Of Sam Yagan and OkCupid

#123

Post by bambax »

lingben wrote: post #5

The hypocrisy of okcupid was evident even before this little bit of info (Yagan's past political contribution) was shared. As I and others pointed out, okcupid went on using javascript! As for okcupid occupying the moral high ground, I still remember when, right after their purchase by match.com, they removed one of the most interesting posts on their blog. It was about why you should never pay for dating web sites a…

Very true; I remember this little episode vividly.

Re: The Hypocrisy Of Sam Yagan and OkCupid

#124

Post by chaired »

patrickg_zill wrote: post #65

There are 7 billion people in the world. Those posters who make the assumption in their posts, that "of course" everyone agrees with their position that Prop 8 was wrong, might want to reflect that probably less than 500 million, or less than 8%, agree with them. The debate that such posters believe has already been settled, will be going on for a long time.

You think that we haven't considered the relationship between morality and popular opinion, and that we should give more weight to popular opinion? And that if we did, we'd see it makes a better basis for morality than models that highlight equality and enumerated rights?

Re: The Hypocrisy Of Sam Yagan and OkCupid

#125

Post by seertaak »

anonbanker wrote: post #49
Karunamon wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>because people find it easier to heap hatred on someone they've never met, than to act with dignity and respect. Turn it around. Eich found it easier to treat millions of people he's never met as second class citizens, than to act with dignity and respect. There are two sides to this story, and you seem to be very eager to tell the one and handwave the other for a "why can't we all just get along" platitude.

and yet, all these testimonials came out from LGBTQ*'s working at Mozilla, with Brenden Eich, saying that he treated them as equals. Perhaps you could elaborate on when Eich said they were second-class citizens. you know, so you aren't accused of putting words in someone's mouth.

As Karunamon states, no more evidence is needed than his financial support for a bigoted law, and his subsequent failure to rescind this support.

It's kind of sad that this needs to be repeated so often, but Proposition 8 was an attempt to limit the rights of a minority of the population (a minority I happen to belong to, as a bisexual man). It is an unprovoked act of aggression -- bullying, if you want.

If Eich had donated $1000 for a law seeking to prohibit marriage between Jews, would you still be asking Karunamon to "elaborate on when Eich said they were second-class citizens"?

I just want to add that I applaud Karunamon's cogent and spirited defense of LGBT rights.

Re: The Hypocrisy Of Sam Yagan and OkCupid

#126

Post by mikeryan »

baddox wrote: post #88
masklinn wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example, there are people who have nothing against homosexuality but are attached to the symbolic value of 'marriage' as a Christian institution Yes, they were also attached to its symbolic value when they used it to condemn miscegenation. Given atheist, muslims, jews or hindus can get married, and so can blacks, browns, reds, yellows and whites (with one another too, which once upon a time was against "the sym…

It has nothing to do both "separate but equal" if the only difference is the legal term used ("marriage" for heterosexual couple, "civil union" for homosexual couple) and not the rights associated with it. Separate but equal was about physical segregation of minorities, not just about using different legal terms for the same thing. And, by the way, something that a ton of people don't know about the separate but equa…

if the only difference is the legal term used ("marriage" for heterosexual couple, "civil union" for homosexual couple) and not the rights associated with it.

Which was not, is not and has never been the case in any of the gay marriage cases across the country.

Re: The Hypocrisy Of Sam Yagan and OkCupid

#127

Post by baddox »

egh wrote: post #100
baddox wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has nothing to do both "separate but equal" if the only difference is the legal term used ("marriage" for heterosexual couple, "civil union" for homosexual couple) and not the rights associated with it. Separate but equal was about physical segregation of minorities, not just about using different legal terms for the same thing. And, by the way, something that a ton of people don't know about the separate but equa…

Your understanding of civil rights and Jim Crow is so wrong it's just astounding. I suggest you start with reading the wikipedia article on Brown v. Board of Education and Jim Crow laws.

Can you give me something more specific? Are you referring to the fact that Brown vs. BoE applied specifically to public schools rather than private businesses? That's true, but the separate but equal doctrine allowed states to prohibit private businesses from having integrated facilities regardless of whether the business owners were racist.

Re: The Hypocrisy Of Sam Yagan and OkCupid

#128

Post by commanda »

anonbanker wrote: post #40

So, bottom line: Eich was forced out by an astroturf campaign led by professional boycotters (waving the gay rights flag this time) and sleazy opportunists/publicity addicts like Yagan. If Eich is a homophobe, I would like to replace the rest of the world's homophobes with him. While he may have disagreed in private, his public persona was inclusive and friendly. There are multiple testominies from people that never…

It really irks me when people conflate calling for someone to step down from a CEO role with "lynching", "blood", or "militant". As you know, actual LGBTQ people are actually lynched, and our blood is actually shed. Your metaphors are, frankly, offensive.

(disclosure: I am also a member of the LGBTQ community.)

Post reply on HN