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Brendan Eich resigns as CEO from Mozilla

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Brendan Eich resigns as CEO from Mozilla

#11

Post by codeoclock »

Weird that these are being demoted. Regardless - I've seen some people defending him for various reasons, most prominently because he has a right to free speech. Of course he has a right to free speech, and he exercised it. He also has the responsibility to accept the consequences. His actions/speech made enough people angry enough to exercise their speech to the extent that Eich's position was no longer tenable.

People too often forget that rights don't mean that there will be no consequences to exercising those rights (within the bounds of the law, and other things).

Re: Brendan Eich resigns as CEO from Mozilla

#12

Post by benched »

coldtea wrote: post #9

A win for bigotry everywhere. If we don't like your personal opinions we wont vote or back a proposition against them -- we'll make you lose your job.

Really? Is there a rash of this sort of thing going on that I don't know about? Or is it pretty much just Brendan Eich right now, reaping the consequences of expressing bigotry publicly?

Re: Brendan Eich resigns as CEO from Mozilla

#13

Post by 3am »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #6
dmazin wrote: post #4

It is somewhat interesting whether these links keep getting killed because HN's response has been so wholly immature or for some other reason.

dang is specifically demoting and killing them. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7527229 I'll wait for his post on the topic to form a final opinion on that, but my initial reaction is that it's wrong to bury a story of this magnitude in the tech industry.

I can completely understand his motivation, even though I believe the efforts to demote/kill them will ultimately be futile. Like you said, this topic will demand discussion. The main thread should at least not be flagged off the frontpage or the new links will keep coming in.

Re: Brendan Eich resigns as CEO from Mozilla

#14

Post by gagaga »

coldtea wrote: post #9

A win for bigotry everywhere. If we don't like your personal opinions we wont vote or back a proposition against them -- we'll make you lose your job.

Yeah, those people in the 50s who fought against desegregation just had a different personal opinion on what was okay. Nothing wrong with that!

Re: Brendan Eich resigns as CEO from Mozilla

#15

Post by benrhughes »

coldtea wrote: post #9

A win for bigotry everywhere. If we don't like your personal opinions we wont vote or back a proposition against them -- we'll make you lose your job.

I'm not sure it's bigotry when people are held accountable for their public opinions.

Free speech cuts both ways.

Re: Brendan Eich resigns as CEO from Mozilla

#16

Post by md224 »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #6
dmazin wrote: post #4

It is somewhat interesting whether these links keep getting killed because HN's response has been so wholly immature or for some other reason.

dang is specifically demoting and killing them. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7527229 I'll wait for his post on the topic to form a final opinion on that, but my initial reaction is that it's wrong to bury a story of this magnitude in the tech industry.

> There is already a major thread on this topic, and it has already spent time on the front page. Anyone who wishes to participate in that thread is welcome to do so.

Is he saying that because a thread exists for a topic, anyone who wants to discuss that topic needs to go and track down the buried thread? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

If the community still wants to discuss something, why not let them? Why force the discussion into a rarely-visited thread ghetto?

Re: Brendan Eich resigns as CEO from Mozilla

#17

Post by benched »

enupten wrote: post #10

This is sad. I know about Brendan Eich's views, but Mozilla is an organization devoted to open source, none of whose concerns, as far as I can tell, have anything to be with sexual minorities. Were he still the CEO, he really couldn't have used his office to act on his views; so why all the castigating ? He has a view, and sure a lot of us (including me) don't agree with him, but this culture of outrage is disgusting…

I don't think you and so many others would say the same thing if the issue was inter-racial marriage, today. Is it really so hard for people to get a little bit ahead of the progress curve for a change, instead of digging in and dragging heels behind it? What is it that makes it so hard?

Re: Brendan Eich resigns as CEO from Mozilla

#19

Post by trustfundbaby »

enupten wrote: post #10

This is sad. I know about Brendan Eich's views, but Mozilla is an organization devoted to open source, none of whose concerns, as far as I can tell, have anything to be with sexual minorities. Were he still the CEO, he really couldn't have used his office to act on his views; so why all the castigating ? He has a view, and sure a lot of us (including me) don't agree with him, but this culture of outrage is disgusting…

I think what happened is that Gay rights stopped being a matter of opinion and turned into a matter of civil rights ... and Eich just got caught on the wrong side of it. On one hand I feel kind of sorry for him, but on the other, I'm happy to see American society making progress in this way. I think its a lesson to all of us to be very careful and forward thinking about the battles we choose to fight in life.

Not to make this any more controversial ... this could easily be the story of a racist person in the who got caught in the same position after the tides shifted and being openly racist just wasn't acceptable any more ... for example Trent Lott.

Re: Brendan Eich resigns as CEO from Mozilla

#20

Post by saryant »

benched wrote: post #12
coldtea wrote: post #9

A win for bigotry everywhere. If we don't like your personal opinions we wont vote or back a proposition against them -- we'll make you lose your job.

Really? Is there a rash of this sort of thing going on that I don't know about? Or is it pretty much just Brendan Eich right now, reaping the consequences of expressing bigotry publicly?

Try working in the oil industry in California. When I was a kid, my father was in charge of PR for one of the refineries in the Bay Area. Local activists routinely tried to get him fired since he was the face of oil in that small town, some even going as far as saying so at city council meetings.

An orthodontist even refused to take me on as a patient because of who my father was.

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