Live data from Hacker News

Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

blog.mozilla.org

201–210 of 1001 posts

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#201

Well, I won't use Firefox anymore and I won't use anything related to Mozilla, I can't tolerate this injustice.

I'm kind of conflicted. On one hand, there's Chrome, but it's used by Google to help US government spy on you. On another hand, there's Mozilla. Both good browsers but are being developed by pretty evil people.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 uncomforta…

I have heard people mention this distinction before, but it seems a bit arbitrary to me. You and I may agree that this is a universal right that is "not up for discussion", but we can't deny the fact that there is a sizable portion of people that would disagree with us. Many of them believe as strongly that we are wrong as we believe that they are wrong. In my eyes, this shows that there are certainly different viewp…

The difference for me is that we all have to work to live. Racists, sexists, and homophobes running workplaces have a direct effect on the standard of living and the effort it takes to preserve it for groups of people who are already besieged and disadvantaged.

In the US, that's why the federal government steps in and requires at least the appearance of fairness. If they hadn't, my family would still be sharecroppers.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#203
post #67

i've stood my ground for my beliefs when people were ridiculing me for doing so. it's a lonely position to be in. i didn't share eich's views here, but he's free to have them, and the reason for the problem is, ironically, the intolerance of other people (people forcing their "tolerance" down his throat). he has my respect. not for his view on gays. but for staying true to what he did. i think this is a shame.

Except he didn't stand his ground at all. He never once explained his beliefs. If he had done that I think people would've been a lot more tolerant of him. I don't think it had to end this way.

Except that personal beliefs are just that, personal. You don't have to explain them.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#204

All of this over a $1,000 donation, apparently. I think it's a bad cause and a bad donation, and I don't have any sympathy at all for the anti-gay-marriage types, but it's crazy to me to hang someone over a thousand dollar donation. What percentage of the total money donated to prop 8 do you think that represented?

Eich didn't make that donation yesterday, you know. But I agree. He made a small donation to a political cause. Are we going to start ritually sacrificing people who don't line up with our personal causes and opinions? I think this sets a draconian precedent. If this is where the culture in the Valley is headed, I'm incredibly glad I'm not a part of it.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#205
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.

[deleted]

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#206
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That said, I understand he's received wildly disproportionate abuse, like death threats. It must have been difficult for him to receive the same treatment as every sufficiently notable LGBT individual.

Burden of proof is on you to prove that "every sufficiently notable LGBT individual" has received "wildly disproportionate abuse, like death threats".

[deleted]

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were there actually threats? I just googled "Brendan Eich threat" and didn't see anything relevant.

Of course a threat that actually contains the word threat is probably more comedic than threatening.

Reasonably legit news reporting on threats would probably contain the word "threat"; that's what I was looking for.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#208

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…

Were there actually threats? I just googled "Brendan Eich threat" and didn't see anything relevant.

There was at least one mozilla employee that reported on their blog that they received death threats when they blogged about support for the new CEO (despite initially conflicting feelings, the blogger is gay). I'm not linking to the blog because they might end up getting more abuse.

When controversial stuff like this happens, it is sadly common to receive death threats on the internet. Given that employees merely voicing support received death threats, I would be surprised if the CEO did not receive such things as well.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#209

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 uncomforta…

I support legalizing gay marriage. But two things, first, supporting prop 8 does not mean you "believe a certain group of people don't deserve to live their lives like others." It means you don't believe that the government should recognize same sex marriages as marriages. There are a large gradient of views here, and on one extreme are the bigots who hate homosexuals and on the other there are people who simply have hangups about the word "marriage" vs "civil unions." As far as I know Brendan has never articulated his opinions on the matter, they have just been extrapolated from a $1,000 donation.

Second, support of prop 8 would have been a mainstream viewpoint less than 10 years ago. In many parts of the country, support of prop 8 is a mainstream viewpoint. People who have different upbringings in different geographic areas are of course going to be biased towards certain views, and it's a bit unfair to chastise them for not completely realigning their viewpoints overnight for something that has probably been the fastest and most productive civil rights movement, maybe ever. People love to talk about tolerance except when tolerance means they have to deal with people who were raised with fundamentally different views, or people who may even have the same views they did a decade ago but failed to "evolve." This could have been an opportunity to attempt bring someone, a powerful CEO, to the side of being informed and support gay rights but instead it was a witch hunt and an embarrassment.

Re: Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

#210
post #51

Personally I don't know what to think when organizations mix their core business (e.g. making a web browser) and politics (e.g. support for free speech). I'd like to see politics and business as separate as possible. What do you think?

A little difficult to do when part of what made the Mozilla Foundation what it is is supporting equality.

It would be hard to see a Skinhead leading a Kosher brand for the same reason.

Post reply on HN