

Free as in? - semanticist
http://www.relativesanity.com/articles/history-repeating

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chrisdevereux
> Freedom isn’t freedom from all consequence: it’s freedom from state mandated
> consequence. It’s the ability to say what you want and not lose any of your
> rights as a result.

A classic libertarian error. To me, freedom is freedom from social coercion
whoever it is from. People are free to a greater or lesser extent within
relationships, within families, within communities, within economies and
within non-state organizations.

There is nothing special about the state in this regard.

~~~
ajanuary
The context is America's constitution, in which case it specifically is
freedom from state mandated consequences.

    
    
        there is a worry that his stepping down represents a degradation of his right to Free Speech, as enshrined in his country’s constitution.
    

Under that context, the article is spot on. If you widen the sorts of freedoms
your talking about, as I think some of the people were when talking about this
situation, then it all becomes a big tangled mess. If you give one person
freedom, you're taking it away from someone else.

It is perhaps a worthwhile discussion to have, but it's still important to
note that specifically the American constitution doesn't protect you from
people telling you you're being a bellend.

~~~
chc
Under that context, it sounds like a straw man. I have literally not seen one
person concerned about his Constitutional rights being violated.

------
intslack
History will judge Eich just fine. He's a great technologist, and the Open Web
owes a huge debt to him. He's probably done more for equality and
inclusiveness than anyone who protested his appointment.

That's the real tradgedy here: the world, and Mozilla, lost a great ally (for
now.)

~~~
passepartout
Noone disputes his tech skills or contribution. You're missing the point here.

~~~
tminus0
His tech skills and his contribution are all that matters when it comes to
leading a tech company. You're the one that's missing the point here.

