The Fascist Thugs Win One: Firefox CEO Steps Down

[Mandark]

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.

[Great Rumbler]

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.

His position has been known since March 2012, when Prop 8 records were made public. People knew about it then, but Eich didn't have much to say. This most recent outrage is because he was raised to the position of CEO, the most public face of the company, without ever having to address his support for Prop 8. Three Mozilla directors resigned following his promotion, reportedly because they didn't like his support of Prop 8.

[Shadow Mod]

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.

last time I checked I'm still one of those whores who has sex before marriage

[benjipwns]

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/we-dont-care-about-same-sex-marriage-we-do-care-about-freedom-speech

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.

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:

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.

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.

#gaygestapo

[Great Rumbler]

[Rufus]

Don't marginalize the marginalizing of minorities. Haha.

[ToxicAdam]

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."

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.


 

[Madrun Badrun]

Like voting for Obama?

[Great Rumbler]

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."

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.

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'.

[benjipwns]

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]

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

Coincidence? Or conspiracy?

[benjipwns]

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/04/03/the-hounding-of-a-heretic-ctd/
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/04/04/dissents-of-the-day-63/

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.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2014/04/brendan_eich_quits_mozilla_let_s_purge_all_the_antigay_donors_to_prop_8.single.html

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.

[Human Snorenado]

 

I'm so glad I don't read Sullivan anymore

[benjipwns]

Wonder if he's going to jump back over to the Republican side and this is the start...

[Yeti]

Fire them all and let the invisible hand sort it out

[ToxicAdam]

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'.

I like that somehow Hillary's opposition is excused, (even though she fraudulantly raised hundreds of millions of dollars on that stance and didn't recant until just last year or so) because of of our rock-bottom opinion of politicians, but the private,  personal donation of an American is fair bait to judge his morality, character and leadership ability. I would understand if Eich was somehow the Koch Brothers of anti-marriage legislation, but this is so far removed from that it's sad.

I don't mind people taking a high ground on this issue to speed up change in America, but at least apply your faux-morality evenly. 


(That dental hygienist example was a jab at PD. I missed the mark on it.)

[Great Rumbler]

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.

[Great Rumbler]

2008 and 2016 do, in fact, belong to the same century, just so we're clear on that.

[benjipwns]

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.

[ToxicAdam]

Yes, 2008 is a long time ago. It's amazing anyone would still be making political hay out of it ...

[Great Rumbler]

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.

[recursivelyenumerable]

Brendan had a pretty sweet homepage in the 90s.  http://web.archive.org/web/19990128210124/http://people.netscape.com/brendan/

[benjipwns]

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!

[Tasty]

:'(

[recursivelyenumerable]

company needs to properly read the balance of passions within its customer base. Both Mozilla and Chick-Fil-A probably have.

In this case it is mostly being driven by current and former employees. Mozilla is a nonprofit (basically), most people aren't there for the paycheck.

[Himu]

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.

I seriously hope Hilary is not running in 2016.

[Tasty]

https://input.mozilla.org



 

[benjipwns]

Or for toasted subs. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I tried to get that mark between "your" and "corporate" off my monitor.

[close]

[HiResDes]

Who the hell uses Firefox these days?

Cyberfox is the shit

[recursivelyenumerable]

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,  :'(

[Madrun Badrun]

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? 

[Human Snorenado]

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?

[Madrun Badrun]

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?

Why do I feel like you want to fuck your mom?

[Madrun Badrun]

eww I don't want to fuck Creepy's mom!

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I wonder why libertarians are suddenly so upset about the free market determining the value of ideas

[Joe Molotov]

why are libertarians so upset about the free market deciding the value of ideas

The invisible hand of the market has taken hold of their jimmies and given them a good rustling.

[nudemacusers]

I do.

me too

but only if awesom-o is there

[Madrun Badrun]

I wonder why libertarians are suddenly so upset about the free market determining the value of ideas

Is it because people who call themselves libertarians on the internet also tend to be social conservatives who find homos disagreeable?

[benjipwns]

I wonder why libertarians are suddenly so upset about the free market determining the value of ideas

WHERE? I've got the stocks and pitchforks ready to ride them out of the movement.

These are the same feggits who love zoning and employee provided health insurance.

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.