
Why I'm Boycotting Mozilla Products - jknupp
http://jeffknupp.com/blog/2014/03/29/why-im-boycotting-mozilla-products/
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phpnode
I notice that your site uses JavaScript. Did you know that Brendan Eich
invented JavaScript? For consistency, you should not only remove JS from your
site but also boycott every other site that uses it, including this one.

~~~
jknupp
I agree. I'm not being consistent in my views. I'm going to continue to use
JavaScript, but I don't the Eich should be running Mozilla. Humans are
complicated.

~~~
phpnode
Regardless of the merits of taking a public stand against this kind of thing,
you, and the other people speaking out against Eich are making a Fundamental
Attribution Error [0].

The fact that Eich donated in support of prop 8 does not _necessarily_ make
him a homophobe. The only thing we see is the donation and none of the context
around what made him decide to do it. He has denied being a homophobe and
there have been no reports of any homophobic behaviour. The only thing we
actually know is that he made a donation to a political cause that the
majority of the voting public also agreed with. Is it fair to say that every
single one of the 52%[1] of voters in support of prop 8 are homophobes?
Plainly the answer is no.

[0]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error)
[1]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008)...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_\(2008\)#Results)

~~~
jknupp
I never accused him of being a homophobe, I simply stated all that I can glean
from the facts: he doesn't believe homosexuals should be allowed to marry.

~~~
coldtea
So what? I know several homosexuals who don't believe homosexuals should be
allowed to marry -- people who actually believe this is a regression to BS
bourgeois values from gay people losing all perspective of 70's struggles
(regarding liberation from antiquated values and institutions).

In general, taking a single issue and making it something people can lose
their job over it, just because you have the power to push for it in the
media, is very wrong.

At worse, what Brendan voted for would merely not let some gay people perform
the same BS marital custom that straight people do. Doesn't compare at all to
death penalty in my book --which costs hundrends of lives -- including of kids
in places like Texas.

So, Should people who are in favor of the death penatly lose their job and
have their CEO positions boycotted? Take you for example. What do you think
about animal rights? Or the death penatly? Or gun control? Or drugs?

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coldtea
"Why I'm Boycotting Mozilla Products"

Because you need to invent BS crusades and then inform anyone about them in
order to get attention?

Just a guess, it could just be because you cannot toleate someone holding an
opinion counter to yours in an issue, and have to retaliate on him not by
democratic procedures or exchange of ideas, but by causing him to lose his
job.

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purringmeow
Has B.Eich done anything do expose his views in the workplace? I don't think
so. It's unfair to push your political/societal ideas on others in the company
and demand they conform to them. I am saying that as a note to some employees
demanding B.Eich to resign, because of the donation he made.

It's getting a bit ridiculous how some people are getting publicly bashed,
because of their views. There is clear separation between the person with his
views and the company with its vision.

~~~
natch
My personal views outside of work have little bearing on my ability to do my
job.

But then, I'm not a CEO.

CEOs have to be leaders, and their personal views, separate or not, are very
relevant to their ability to lead.

~~~
purringmeow
What does his stance on gay marriage tell you about his ability to lead? It
tells me exactly nothing. Has he harrased or fired an employee for being gay?
I really doubt that.

~~~
natch
Life isn't fair, but a sense of fairness is a good starting point for a
leader. Not to mention empathy, compassion, and respect for equal treatment of
people.

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voidr
Just because someone wants the word marriage to mean `union between biological
man and biological woman` does not mean that that person is homophobic, this
is a a display of ignorance coming from people asking for tolerance.

So far it has been not proven that Brendan Eich is homophobic, the only thing
we know is that he wouldn't prefer to call same sex unions marriages.

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burntroots
So what's happening here is a man is fighting intolerance with more
intolerance. That seems productive.

~~~
burntroots
To the person who downvoted me, how am I wrong?

~~~
dkuntz2
Would you argue that the Montgomery Bus Boycott was just fighting intolerance
with intolerance? Is Richard Stallman intolerant because he boycotts the Coca-
Cola company?

Boycotting isn't fighting intolerance with intolerance, it's just an instance
of someone abstaining from something.

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Pacabel
One thing I've noticed a lot of with many of the arguments regarding this
particular incident is blatant contradiction and hypocrisy. While these aren't
unusual, they're particularly bad in this case.

This article, for instance, states the following: "Indeed, any right withheld
from any group of people must be rallied against."

Yet the author makes that very claim in an article that basically suggests
that people should not have the right to oppose homosexuality or gay marriage,
and should not have the right merely to express such beliefs. He should be
rallying against his own article and his own stance, in fact.

I'm not suggesting that he or anyone else should be denied the right to hold
or to express contradictory or hypocritical viewpoints, of course. But the use
of such arguments does make it hard to take one seriously, regardless of what
the issue at hand is, and regardless of the position being expressed.

~~~
natch
People are entitled to their views. But some views are not conducive to good
leadership.

~~~
dalke
And expressing views may have social consequences. There is no general right
which requires others to ignore or disregard speech they don't like.

(There are limited rights, like workplace laws protecting people who express
views about unsafe working conditions or racial discrimination in the
workplace from retaliatory action by their employers. This should not be
confused with a general right that applies to everyone and all speech.)

