Brendan Eich committed a thoughtcrime. He supports the traditional definition of marriage. For that, he has now joined the ranks of the unemployed.QuoteMozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn’t live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves.
We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act. We didn’t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We’re sorry. We must do better.
Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He’s made this decision for Mozilla and our community.
Yeah. He’s “made this decision” after thugs forced him into it.QuoteMozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.
Obviously Mozilla does not believe in equality or freedom of speech. If it did, it would have defended its CEO and noted that many of its employees agree with him, not just the other side. It would have asserted that both sides deserve a hearing.
Firefox surrendered to the OKCupid mob, which loves free speech so much that it has successfully deprived a man of his income because of his beliefs — beliefs which are not fringe, but are shared by roughly half the country or more. Beliefs which he once shared with the left’s own champion, Barack Obama.
I know many readers here and many writers here support gay marriage. Are y’all cool with depriving someone of their ability to work if they disagree? That’s where we are right now. They tried it with Chick-Fil-A and bombed. But they have succeeded in the tech field, which drives much of our culture forward. Into what?QuoteOur organizational culture reflects diversity and inclusiveness. We welcome contributions from everyone regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, gender, gender-identity, language, race, sexual orientation, geographical location and religious views. Mozilla supports equality for all.
Another lie.QuoteWe 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. This is meant to distinguish Mozilla from most organizations and hold us to a higher standard. But this time we failed to listen, to engage, and to be guided by our community.
While painful, the events of the last week show exactly why we need the web. So all of us can engage freely in the tough conversations we need to make the world better.
“Freely.” That word no longer means what it once did. You’re free to agree with the mob. You’re not free to disagree with the mob.
Update: GLAAD responds with a lie of its own.QuoteMozilla’s strong statement in favor of equality today reflects where corporate America is: inclusive, safe, and welcoming to all.
“…welcoming to all.” Unless you disagree with us, in which case, you might as well be dead.
GLAAD also gives something away. Mozilla claims that Eich stepped down on his own. GLAAD says Mozilla has made a “strong statement.” That can only be true if Mozilla forced him to step down.
So either GLAAD are projecting, or Mozilla is lying.
Update: Check this out. The IRS abuse scandal started the process that got Eich ousted.QuoteWhy, then, the ruckus? Amazingly enough, it is entirely due to the fact that Eich made a $1,000 donation to the campaign urging a ‘yes’ vote on California’s Proposition 8. When this fact first came to light in 2012, after the Internal Revenue Service leaked a copy of the National Organization for Marriage’s 2008 tax return to a gay-advocacy group, Eich, who was then CTO of Mozilla, published a post on his personal blog stating that his donation was not motivated by any sort of animosity towards gays or lesbians, and challenging those who did not believe this to cite any “incident where I displayed hatred, or ever treated someone less than respectfully because of group affinity or individual identity.”
To whom did the IRS leak NOM’s files? The Human Rights Campaign.
The HRC evidently engineered Eich’s ouster, in the name of equality and tolerance.
The IRS actions create a serious chilling effect. Your donations to any group can be leaked by a hostile operative within the government, to your enemies, for use against you — up to and now including costing you your job.
Also, this is hilarious coming from the same group of people who cry and bawl over the government punishing companies for what they do and instead say that whether a company lives or dies should rest solely on whether the public wants to support it financially. Isn't that exactly what's happening here? Isn't "the public" deciding to withhold its financial support from a company/owner that it doesn't agree with? LMAO. Get lost, Breitbart wannabe.
The party that bankrupted the country through ruinous, pointless warmongering and Wall Street wilding markets itself as the fiscally responsible foreign policy grownups. The party that lets a gun manufacturer flak organization intimidate it into allowing terrorists and the floridly insane to purchase unlimited semiautomatic weapons bills itself as tough on crime. Etc.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that conservatives’ perception of their ongoing defeat in the culture wars is exactly the opposite of reality on every level too.
The guy who had the gall to express his First Amendment rights and favor Prop 8 in California by donating $1,000 has just been scalped by some gay activists. After an OKCupid decision to boycott Mozilla, the recently appointed Brendan Eich just resigned under pressure:Can't tell if serious cuz it Andrew Sullivan.
...
Will he now be forced to walk through the streets in shame? Why not the stocks? The whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society. If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out. If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us.
This sets a troubling precedent. This is America, one should be able to oppress a minority without fear of losing their job.*
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/04/03/the-hounding-of-brendan-eich/QuoteThe guy who had the gall to express his First Amendment rights and favor Prop 8 in California by donating $1,000 has just been scalped by some gay activists. After an OKCupid decision to boycott Mozilla, the recently appointed Brendan Eich just resigned under pressure:Can't tell if serious cuz it Andrew Sullivan.
...
Will he now be forced to walk through the streets in shame? Why not the stocks? The whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society. If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out. If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us.
Also, this is hilarious coming from the same group of people who cry and bawl over the government punishing companies for what they do and instead say that whether a company lives or dies should rest solely on whether the public wants to support it financially. Isn't that exactly what's happening here? Isn't "the public" deciding to withhold its financial support from a company/owner that it doesn't agree with? LMAO. Get lost, Breitbart wannabe.
I do, but I'm thinking of switching. I was only using it to oppress the gays.I wonder what Eich thinks about your sexual tastes :kobeyuck
And whose place is it to decide which of them should?Um, their employers?
Let's all start a "Glen 'Puddles' Shinobi Memorial Society for the Promotion of the Oppression of Guys With Mental Disorders" and see what Awesome-o says then.Would be more effective if it was a "Glen 'Puddles' Shinobi Memorial Society for the Promotion of ensuring the continued well being of duckroll"
Fuck you, benji. Anarchist dumbshit.It's funny how much more every LeBron or Dwight ring will pain you than the continued popular legitimacy of the state will cloud all my days combined.
I hope it pains you to realize that the world you want to see will never, EVER exist.
How many of them should lose their jobs? And whose place is it to decide which of them should?
Suffice to say, many Prop 8 supporters didn't even consider it a human rights issue.
Depends. How did that interview even come about? Had he made statements about how white straight men were inferior? Did he publicly campaign for a ballot initiative that fucked white straight men over? Or did the whole situation come up because internet police started publishing the names of everyone who donated to a ballot initiative that fucked over white straight men? In the first case, no, fuck him. In the second case, whatever. His business.
I would argue that this is not the case. Having known a lot of people who supported Prop 8, a lot of them basically had the view "Gays marrying doesn't make any sense, because that's not what marriage is. That's like a cat demanding to take part in a dog show... that doesn't make sense because that's not what a dog show is." I heard more of that than "fuck those fegs" anyway.Okay, and they won for the time being. Should that make them immune from criticism or opposing views forever?
Which to me is a whole lot less problematic than someone who acknowledges marriage as a human right and still wants to deny it to a certain subset of people.
Besides, lots of people believe things based on religion, and in a lot of cases they grew up with that religion all their lives. It's a completely different world for them.
A $1000 donation? Yes, he should have an expectation of anonymity IMO. A $1,000,000 donation, not so much.
Should they all be targeted? Should we boycott their companies until they're fired or forced to resign?Some people may think their rights are worth that time and effort. Others may think you can target the big fish, the CEOs and the like, but it's not worth it to go after regular joes. Some may recognize there's a line to walk to win the next vote. Still more might think that every opportunity to bring up the issue is the best way forward.
Backlash != losing their jobs.
I think the idea here is that as the CEO of a company you don't want someone harboring bias against groups that may be represented in the company's workforce, and you generally don't want the public face of your company to be perceived as an asshole. Also, the Koch brothers went oh-fer in 2012, so I dunno how effective we can say they are.
No. But, IMO, they shouldn't lose their jobs in 2014 because of it.
Backlash != losing their jobs.What if a CEO did something so odious, like being an unrepentant furry GAF moderator, that the company lost all its sales and went out of business from people boycotting?
I think the idea here is that as the CEO of a company you don't want someone harboring bias against groups that may be represented in the company's workforce, and you generally don't want the public face of your company to be perceived as an asshole. Also, the Koch brothers went oh-fer in 2012, so I dunno how effective we can say they are.
That's where I am at. Seems to me it's really easy to not give a fuck if you're not a part of any group that has to worry about reproductive health, glass ceilings, marriage rights, health coverage of your dependent, etc and how your boss feels about those things.
I think the idea here is that as the CEO of a company you don't want someone harboring bias against groups that may be represented in the company's workforce, and you generally don't want the public face of your company to be perceived as an asshole. Also, the Koch brothers went oh-fer in 2012, so I dunno how effective we can say they are.
Okay, fair enough.
As someone who has a gay brother, I am obviously very much opposed to his views and to things like Prop 8. I don't approve of how this Eich thing went down and how that bias was brought to light. That's it. But I see your point.
I think the idea here is that as the CEO of a company you don't want someone harboring bias against groups that may be represented in the company's workforce, and you generally don't want the public face of your company to be perceived as an asshole. Also, the Koch brothers went oh-fer in 2012, so I dunno how effective we can say they are.
That's where I am at. Seems to me it's really easy to not give a fuck if you're not a part of any group that has to worry about reproductive health, glass ceilings, marriage rights, health coverage of your dependent, etc and how your boss feels about those things.
White cis het American speaking for everyone on the shit end of the kyriarchy.
:gurl
On Thursday, Mozilla, creator of Mozilla Firefox, forced the resignation of CEO Brendan Eich thanks to a $1,000 personal donation he made to a ballot initiative supporting traditional marriage in 2008.#gaygestapo
The firing followed a vicious smear campaign against Eich by dating website OKCupid, in which OKCupid blocked Mozilla users from visiting their website, instead directing them to a message declaring that Eich was one of their “enemies.” He was an “enemy” because he held precisely the same position as Barack Obama in 2008, signed a private non-company check to that effect, had never discriminated against a gay person, and was now CEO of a company that had never discriminated against gay people. He was an enemy, in other words, because the thought police didn’t like what was going on in his head, and didn’t like the political activity in which he had engaged anonymously and on his own time.
Was OKCupid’s action legal? Sure.
Was Mozilla’s action in forcing his resignation legal? Of course.
Were both of them not only wrong, but morally disgusting?
Absolutely.
This is not about the issue of same-sex marriage. I have personally taken the position that the government should get completely out of the business of marriage. If two men or women want to live together and get married through any private institution of their choosing, I’m fine with that; I hold the same position with regard to one man and one woman. And TruthRevolt is obviously not attempting to crack down on pro-same-sex marriage companies – Google is pro-same-sex marriage, and yet we recommend them as an alternative browser to Firefox.
This issue is far larger than the small and parochial same-sex marriage issue. It is about the chilling of political freedom by small sects of motivated political players. It is the same issue as A&E’s suspension of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson over his comments paraphrasing the Book of Corinthians. It is the issue of McCarthyistic blacklisting and voter intimidation and ultimately, the issue of utilizing power to silence dissent. In America, we typically prize freedom of speech. And while OKCupid and company may be exercising their market power in fully legal fashion, they’re certainly advocates for quashing freedom of speech.
Imagine a world in which all gay people in America were at risk of firing thanks to religious bigots mobilizing against their perceived sins. Imagine a world in which market power wasn’t just utilized to get gay people fired, but government became a tool of the anti-gay mob. Would that be wrong? Now switch the parties. That’s reality.
Andrew Sullivan, openly gay columnist, has written precisely the same thing:QuoteThe whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society. If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out. If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us.
Lesbian commentator Tammy Bruce was more succinct: Mozilla, she said, “caved to the Gay Gestapo.” She added, “Gay civil rights movement began to make sure people weren’t punished for who they were. Now look what you’ve become #gaygestapo @mozilla.”
This is precisely what TruthRevolt was designed to fight. While others may sit still as the left manipulates the market to achieve its ends of shutting up Americans, we will fight back using their own tactics. We, too, can use our market power. We encourage others to do so. We do this not because we want more boycotts, but because we want mutually assured destruction. Since the inception of TruthRevolt, we have stated openly that the moment the left stops engaging in these bully tactics, we will stop responding in kind. Otherwise, we will punch back twice as hard.
It is no coincidence that those backing Mozilla’s decision are the same folks who support the government’s attempts to force businessowners to violate their religious precepts. If anyone believes that the totalitarian left has qualms about using government to achieve their desired ends – that the left will stop at boycotts -- he or she should think about what it will be like when it’s not OKCupid, but the government, wielding the club.
This is a fight for freedom, whether or not you agree with Eich’s political perspective. Privately-held political beliefs are no excuse for wheeling out the stocks and demanding public canings. To stop such activity, we will have to fight fire with fire.
We are not powerless in this fight. TruthRevolt will not stand idly by. Neither should you.
Sign our petition, and uninstall Firefox today.
In 2000, Hillary Clinton said marriage "has a historic, religious and moral context that goes back to the beginning of time. And I think a marriage has always been between a man and a woman."
QuoteIn 2000, Hillary Clinton said marriage "has a historic, religious and moral context that goes back to the beginning of time. And I think a marriage has always been between a man and a woman."
Do you want your dental hygienist to be a known supporter of the oppression of gay rights? Neither do I, my friend. We must take action together.
RuPaul's Drag Race is an American reality competition television series produced by World of Wonder for Logo. RuPaul plays the roles of host, mentor, and source of inspiration for this series, which details RuPaul's search for "America's next drag superstar."[3]Coincidence? Or conspiracy?
The show was greenlit in May 2008, according to a press release by MTV Networks. It premiered in the U.S. on Logo on February 2, 2009
As I said last night, of course Mozilla has the right to purge a CEO because of his incorrect political views. Of course Eich was not stripped of his First Amendment rights. I’d fight till my last breath for Mozilla to retain that right. What I’m concerned with is the substantive reason for purging him. When people’s lives and careers are subject to litmus tests, and fired if they do not publicly renounce what may well be their sincere conviction, we have crossed a line. This is McCarthyism applied by civil actors. This is the definition of intolerance. If a socially conservative private entity fired someone because they discovered he had donated against Prop 8, how would you feel? It’s staggering to me that a minority long persecuted for holding unpopular views can now turn around and persecute others for the exact same reason. If we cannot live and work alongside people with whom we deeply disagree, we are finished as a liberal society.
A little history lesson. Not so long ago, many in the gay community itself – including large swathes of its left-liberal wing – opposed marriage equality. I know, because I was targeted by them as a neofascist/heterosexist/patriarchal “anti-Christ”. Yes, I was called precisely that in print for being a conservative supporter of marriage equality and for ending the ban on openly gay people in the military. And I’m talking only a couple of decades ago. And now, opposing marriage equality is regarded as equivalent to the KKK? And neo-Nazis?
There you have the illiberal mindset. Morality trumps freedom. Our opponents must be humiliated, ridiculed and “isolated as perverts”. I mean “bigots”, excuse me.
Orwell wept.
Some of my colleagues are celebrating. They call Eich a bigot who got what he deserved. I agree. But let’s not stop here. If we’re serious about enforcing the new standard, thousands of other employees who donated to the same anti-gay ballot measure must be punished.
More than 35,000 people gave money to the campaign for Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that declared, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” You can download the entire list, via the Los Angeles Times, as a compressed spreadsheet. (Click the link that says, “Download CSV.”) Each row lists the donor’s employer. If you organize the data by company, you can add up the total number of donors and dollars that came from people associated with that company.
The first thing you’ll notice, if you search for Eich, is that he’s the only Mozilla employee who gave to the campaign for Prop 8. His $1,000 was more than canceled out by three Mozilla employees who donated to the other side.
The next thing you’ll notice is that other companies, including other tech firms, substantially outscored Mozilla in pro-Prop 8 contributions attributed to their employees. That includes Adobe, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, and Yahoo, as well as Disney, DreamWorks, Gap, and Warner Bros.
Thirty-seven companies in the database are linked to more than 1,300 employees who gave nearly $1 million in combined contributions to the campaign for Prop 8. Twenty-five tech companies are linked to 435 employees who gave more than $300,000. Many of these employees gave $1,000 apiece, if not more. Some, like Eich, are probably senior executives.
Why do these bigots still have jobs? Let’s go get them.
To organize the next stage of the purge, I’ve compiled the financial data into three tables. Here’s the first table. It shows 37 companies whose names, in one form or another, appear next to a total of at least $10,000 (per company) in donations to Prop 8. The list isn’t complete, but it’s a start.
...
If we’re serious about taking down corporate officers who supported Proposition 8, and boycotting employers who promote them, we'd better get cracking on the rest of the list. Otherwise, perhaps we should put down the pitchforks.
Hillary's just a hypocrite on the gay marriage issue, flip-flopping when it's politically convenient. Thankfully, conservative Republicans have much more integrity than that and will stand fast against gay marriage until the day they die.
And if my dentist, for instance, was flying a Confederate flag outside his place of business, I'd probably go find a different dentist instead. Just sayin'.
2008 and 2016 do, in fact, belong to the same century, just so we're clear on that.For you it's like half a century.
2008 and 2016 do, in fact, belong to the same century, just so we're clear on that.For you it's like half a century.
I think that Chelsea Clinton is the coolest first daughter ever. I've been so impressed by how she has been able to put all of the Washington scandals behind her and focus on her studies at Stanford. I've been thinking of starting a Silicon Valley chapter of the Chelsea Clinton fan-club. Chelsea if you ever read this send me some mail!
This image actually does double duty because I love to play Mariokart too!:phil
company needs to properly read the balance of passions within its customer base. Both Mozilla and Chick-Fil-A probably have.
On the topic of Hillary, she hasn't been up for an election or appointment since 2008. With the timetable we're on right now, that may as well have been in a previous century. I think it's quite likely that she'll get some questions along those lines come 2016.
Who the hell uses Firefox these days?
fwiw I have a lot of respect for Brendan as an engineer, engineering leader and technical strategist. The fact he has some kind of weird religious? / libertarian / paleoconservative beliefs has been known for a long time to anyone who follows him, even though he doesn't directly expound on them much. He is probably trapped in some hellish intellectual prison labyrinth thingy of ideology, :'(
fwiw I have a lot of respect for Brendan as an engineer, engineering leader and technical strategist. The fact he has some kind of weird religious? / libertarian / paleoconservative beliefs has been known for a long time to anyone who follows him, even though he doesn't directly expound on them much. He is probably trapped in some hellish intellectual prison labyrinth thingy of ideology, :'(
Why do I feel like you literally followed him and now have him in some Cenobite dimension dungeon constructed in your basement?
fwiw I have a lot of respect for Brendan as an engineer, engineering leader and technical strategist. The fact he has some kind of weird religious? / libertarian / paleoconservative beliefs has been known for a long time to anyone who follows him, even though he doesn't directly expound on them much. He is probably trapped in some hellish intellectual prison labyrinth thingy of ideology, :'(
Why do I feel like you literally followed him and now have him in some Cenobite dimension dungeon constructed in your basement?
...projection? :hitler
why are libertarians so upset about the free market deciding the value of ideas
:hitler
I do.me too
I wonder why libertarians are suddenly so upset about the free market determining the value of ideas
:hitler
I wonder why libertarians are suddenly so upset about the free market determining the value of ideasWHERE? I've got the stocks and pitchforks ready to ride them out of the movement.
:hitler
Is it because people who call themselves libertarians on the internet also tend to be social conservatives who find homos disagreeable?It's not that they dislike homos, it's that they just don't want to expand the state by bringing more people into the illegitimate institution of state-validated marriage. :teehee