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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.
Mozilla 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.Our 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.
We 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.
As of this time, there is no named successor or statement on who will be taking over Mozilla's leadership.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 03 2014, @08:58PM
" However, having free speech doesn't mean everyone has to put up with you and be nice to you; they're free to shun you, fire you, refuse to do business with you, call you names, etc."
Wow, so what you're saying is that it's ok to do those things if someone for instance supports gay rights or womens rights? Or does this only apply with opinions that differs from yours?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by youngatheart on Thursday April 03 2014, @09:27PM
This only applies to people who are on the unpopular side of the politically correct majority. Obviously.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by cwix on Thursday April 03 2014, @09:38PM
You and everyone else in the country has the right to free speech (Donating money) You do not have the right to be free from criticism (which is others' free speech).
(Score: 1) by youngatheart on Thursday April 03 2014, @10:50PM
You're right of course. I was speaking tongue-in-cheek but the simple reality is that if you speak against the majority politically correct opinion, you're far more likely to suffer than if you speak to agree with it. The broader reality is that people who need good public opinion suffer the most any time they are involved with anything controversial and sometimes just if they're interesting.
(Score: 1) by Yog-Yogguth on Friday April 04 2014, @06:27AM
And if you're not on the right side whatever that is now or in the future then you're out of luck and a job and any rights at all in practice. You just now saw it happen. Same reason you have no rights when commenting on most "news" sites: you'll just disappear if that is in any way convenient, that's pure unmitigated fascism in full practice.
That's not something anyone ought to support because it makes them themselves hypocrites and bigots no matter what opinion they should happen to hold or oppose.
I find it dismaying that a lot of people seem unable to understand something this simple, never mind all that follows.
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(Score: 1) by velex on Thursday April 03 2014, @10:43PM
Well, what's the alternative?
If somebody is giving money to a political cause I disapprove of, why should I give that person money? I dropped Firefox when I heard the browser was getting ads.
What exactly are you suggesting?
I've had the cops called on me just because some jackass Dairy Queen owner thought I was one gender and then discovered evidence that I might be another gender. It's his business, and he had every right to freak out and call the cops. He won't need to worry about getting any more of my money, and now we're both happy. It works both ways.
What about Hobby Lobby or Chik-Filla (or whatever it's called)? Are you saying that I should be forced to spend money at those businesses? Why can't I have the free choice to decide that I'd prefer not to shop at Hobby Lobby, Chik-Filla, Dairy Queen, or use a Mozilla browser that may get in-application ads and certainly gets compensation from Google every time I use the search widget.
With apologies to Voltaire, I'd defend this guy's right to say whatever shit he wants to the death. However, he isn't free from the consequences of using his right to free speech. And I sure as hell have the freedom to decide where I spend my money and click-throughs.
You know, isn't that great? Christians who believe I'm going to burn in eternal hellfire and am attempting to turn their sons into faggots and for whatever reason trying to turn their democracy into a socialism (with my libertarian leanings??? I guess?? I try not to make sense of it) can shop at Hobby Lobby, get some dinner at Chick-Filla, and have some crap ice cream at Diary Queen to their heart's content.
Hell, I've said before and I'll say it again. Why don't those businesses and other businesses like those just put up signs that say LGBT Not Welcome so I can know for sure to take my money elsewhere?
(Score: 1) by Grishnakh on Friday April 04 2014, @02:57PM
No, it's legally permissible to do it any time. It's called "freedom of association". It should be fairly obvious that this necessarily leads to the phenomenon whereby people who vocalize unpopular opinions themselves become unpopular, and people don't want to associate with them. Yes, that means that if you say something unpopular, will may suffer negative consequences. That's the way it works in a place with freedom of speech and freedom of association. You can say whatever idiotic crap you want, and I'm free to take my business elsewhere, criticize you, call you a bigot or other names, call for your resignation or firing, etc.
It's not just "politically correct" stuff; it entirely varies by location and context. Spouting anti-LGBT stuff in the liberal cities of California is not going to win you many friends there. Similarly, spouting pro-LGBT messages in rural Mississippi or Nebraska isn't likely to win you many friends there either. If Eich had taken a position as CEO of some oil pipeline company in Missouri, he probably wouldn't have had any trouble. Instead, he tried to take a top position in Mountain View, California, right next to San Francisco which is famous for being a LGBT hotspot and ultra-liberal, at a company that promises in its mission statement to be non-discriminatory and seems to take that seriously. The only way he could have screwed up worse is if he had tried to take an executive position at HuffPost or Starbucks, as those places would have kicked him out within minutes of finding out about his public political stance on LGBT.