

Brendan Eich Resigns As Mozilla CEO Following Criticism - shill
http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/03/brendan-eich-resigns-as-mozilla-ceo-following-criticism-of-his-support-for-prop-8/

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Aqueous
This is ridiculous. Eich did something many of us - including myself -
disagree with wholeheartedly. But he has a right to his opinion. He shouldn't
have been fired.

OKCupid's response to this was extreme - "We wish him nothing but failure."
Really? Because you disagree with him? I disagree with him too, and believe
his view on this single issue is bigoted and crude, but I also recognize that
he's made enormous contributions to technology. That's why he was made the CEO
of an organization that he helped start, not because of his political beliefs.

If you can't believe something unpopular for fear of losing your job then
that's a form of coercion, and it should be as abhorrent to all of us as
restricting the right of same-sex individuals to marry.

~~~
chowells
It's not ridiculous. Actions have consequences. A consequence of his action is
that he was unable to perform the duties necessary for CEO of Mozilla.

Freedom of expression has never meant freedom from the consequences of your
expression. Why don't people understand this?

~~~
Aqueous
Let's take the opposite case. Let's say you were working for a bunch of people
who believed wholeheartedly what Eich believes- that same-sex individuals
don't have a right to marry - but you expressed that you think they do have a
right to marry. Do you think it would be acceptable for them to fire you based
on this private belief simply because they disagreed with it? Take this
question completely apart from the question of whether or not our belief is
correct and theirs is wrong.

What is the limit to the consequences that can be meted out because of your
free expression?

~~~
akmiller
That is not logically equivalent. One group is trying to deny another group
rights...the other group just wants to be treated equally under the law. Eich,
unfortunately, is on the wrong side of history here and he suffered a
consequence because of it.

~~~
Aqueous
Right - but neither of us have the final authority on what's wrong and what's
right. In this situation both sides believe they are right, and then it
becomes a matter of who has the power to inflict censure on someone else for
their beliefs. In which case, if you were in such a situation, and therefore
less powerful than your superiors who believe the opposite of you, wouldn't
you want protection from being removed from your job and livelihood simply
because you happened to believe something that went against the grain?

If we mete out harsh punishment to people who don't toe the line people become
afraid to speak and debate. If we are truly right then our idea will be proven
right only through rational argument and rigorous debate. We should be doing
everything possible to foster such an atmosphere, and that means sometimes
tolerating beliefs that we don't agree with.

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petercooper
This is why I don't think the flamewar penalizer on Hacker News makes much
sense (or it should at least be turned off for stuff that is "big news").

This news item is going to keep getting submitted as every time zone comes
around to it.. voted up, huge argument, kicked off the front page despite
hundreds of votes and then the loop begins again. It's better to just have the
one initial thread with all the noise, no?

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mbrubeck
See also the thread for the official announcement from Mozilla:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7525198](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7525198)

