5 ms·

Mozilla just can't catch a break

31 points by blindpixel 12y ago

JohnTHaller 12y ago
Thankfully, they can switch to a "straight browser". Something like Google Chrome or Apple Safari. Oh, wait, both of them donated money to defeat Prop 8 because they both favor gay marriage. Google even has a whole page about it: Legalise Love: LGBT Rights Are Human Rights: http://www.google.com/diversity/legalise-love.html http://www.google.com/diversity/legalise-love.html Maybe they could switch back to Microsoft Internet Explorer. Oh, wait, Microsoft was lobbying for gay marriage to be legalized in Washington state back in 2012 and has included gay marriage in their advertising. Sorry, folks. All the major browsers are gay.
notaputin 12y ago
That situation around B. Eich harmed LGBT group in third-world countries. For example, in Russia people is afraid about gay rights. They think if gays will have equial rights with straights, they starts to hunt anybody who are not pro-gay. And that situation with B. Eich proofs that.
- true_religion 12y ago
  Russia is a 3rd world country now? Putting away the pedantic definition of 1st-2nd-3rd world, even by the 'modern' conniption, Russia isn't a developing economy.
lawl 12y ago
They're trolling, right? this is a joke, right? Please tell me this is a joke. Edit: There's nothing on the page in the image: http://www.catholicvote.org/?s=firefox&submit=%C2%A0 http://www.catholicvote.org/?s=firefox&submit=%C2%A0 So i assume this is indeed just a joke.
- gf6554 12y ago
  Not a joke. See https://twitter.com/CatholicVote/status/452108584126410752 https://twitter.com/CatholicVote/status/452108584126410752. They should be free to speak their mind as the opposition, correct?
  - sliverstorm 12y ago
    No no, it's already been clearly established in these threads. The pro-gay-marriage side is the only side that gets to speak their minds, because they are the side that is right. That's how freedom of speech works, after all. Only the person who is right gets it.
    - MetaCosm 12y ago
      You are free to say what you want, and free to deal with the repercussions. Everything can be framed as having two sides, but society at a certain point decides there isn't two sides. The "pro-interracial-marriage" side is the only side that gets to speak its mind these days, because they are the side that is right. Try coming out as against interracial marriage and you will be run out of your company on a rail, as you should be, rinse and repeat for gay marriage.
      - sliverstorm 12y ago
        They aren't really the side that is right, they are just the side that has 99% of people. Gay marriage is contentious because it's practically an even split right now.
        MetaCosm 12y ago
        61% of young Republican leaning Americans (18-29) support marriage equality. The issue is settled, the trajectory is clear, it is just a few years until it will all be shaken out and boring and stats about people being against gay marriage will be treated with awe and shock. In 1986, only around 30% of Americans "approved" of interracial relationships -- now about that number have a family member IN an interracial relationship. Things move faster now, and in just a few years, the idea of being against same-sex marriage will seem just as insane about being against interracial marriage.
jasimq 12y ago
Freedom of speech goes both ways...
- smtddr 12y ago
  I probably shouldn't even bring this up. This whole thread will be knocked off the front-page shortly anyway... but I just had a heated debate with a coworker that's an Eich-supporter and found his logic disturbing and ethically broken when it expanded to views on racism, sexism, homophobia. But for all those people who support Eich and keep saying freedom-of-speech goes both ways even for "unpopular opinions": How would you define Hate Speech. Do you think it's okay? Do you think Google is right for not allowing Hate Speech on youtube? I'm only asking because I want to know if these Eich-supporters have a limit somewhere; where speech becomes harmful - from just expressing yourself to inflicting a tangible negative effect on others who do not wish it. While I'm not accusing Eich of hate speech, I believe his donation to an effort to make a law which forces his belief on others - something that has nothing to do with how he lives his own life - is similar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech >>In law, hate speech is any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group. Am I crazy for thinking that prop8 disparages the love between two men or women that want to get married? Isn't the core of prop8 based on people who cannot accept the LGBT community and want to keep marriage for themselves? Shouldn't society squash this kind of thing out of law?
  - daveqr 12y ago
    >Isn't the core of prop8 based on people who cannot accept >the LGBT community and want to keep marriage for >themselves? Some people might feel that way, but there are arguments against gay marriage that have nothing to do with this. Some people feel gay marriage reduces freedom, some people are against the idea of government involvement in marriage, period (which is actually what I suspect Eich's view is), and some gay people are against gay marriage. >Shouldn't society squash this kind of thing out of law? Not just no, but hell no.
  - 12y ago
rjknight 12y ago
This was the fairly inevitable conclusion of forcing him to quit. Nobody has come out of this looking good.
- blindpixel 12y ago
  I agree. The whole episode has been a disaster for Mozilla's mission.
mehwoot 12y ago
I don't know whether this is a joke or not, but what do you expect? Proposition 8 passed. A majority of people were in favor of it. You think those people would just rule out applying the same sort of pressure on mozilla that worked so effectively? This is why, despite supporting gay marriage, I think it is abhorrent that Brendan Eich was effectively forced to resign. He donated privately to a campaign that was supported by a majority of people, but somehow that makes it ok to destroy his career because we don't agree with his stance. I don't particularly want to inhabit a society where that is the norm. It makes me very uneasy.
- ftfish 12y ago
  Brendan Eich is a human/civil rights denier. Now that is abhorrent. "It makes me very uneasy." Oh no, I guess you're just going to have to be a decent human being from now on. Sorry.
- te_chris 12y ago
  I don't want to live in a society where people with bigoted and regressive views are merely considered as a difference of opinion. Human rights are absolute. EDIT: So many downvotes, wow.
  - ftfish 12y ago
    "So many downvotes, wow." Is it really surprising considering that a lot of the people here are white racist sexist homophobic males with barely any social skills who laugh at how much they can relate to the "forever alone" meme? You know, after spending enough time reading HN comments I started thinking tech attracts the worst kind of people. Only recently I realized it's simply not true -- actually I'm kind of happy nobody compared homosexuality to bestialism or pedophillia (well, I haven't really read all the comments on this topic, but I am going to give HN the benefit of the doubt). It's just that the world is a pretty awful place -- unless you are the "default human being" (white, hetero, male). But it is getting better (very, very slowly). I'm just happy that there are people like you (and this whole Eich episode proved there's a lot of such people) who make being in the tech industry (and generally being around other human beings) quite bearable.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- sp332 12y ago
  Technically, Eich resigned. I assumed it was more from outside pressure than from the board.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]

31 points by blindpixel 12y ago

Thankfully, they can switch to a "straight browser". Something like Google Chrome or Apple Safari. Oh, wait, both of them donated money to defeat Prop 8 because they both favor gay marriage. Google even has a whole page about it: Legalise Love: LGBT Rights Are Human Rights: http://www.google.com/diversity/legalise-love.html http://www.google.com/diversity/legalise-love.html Maybe they could switch back to Microsoft Internet Explorer. Oh, wait, Microsoft was lobbying for gay marriage to be legalized in Washington state back in 2012 and has included gay marriage in their advertising. Sorry, folks. All the major browsers are gay.

notaputin 12y ago

That situation around B. Eich harmed LGBT group in third-world countries. For example, in Russia people is afraid about gay rights. They think if gays will have equial rights with straights, they starts to hunt anybody who are not pro-gay. And that situation with B. Eich proofs that.

true_religion 12y ago
Russia is a 3rd world country now? Putting away the pedantic definition of 1st-2nd-3rd world, even by the 'modern' conniption, Russia isn't a developing economy.

lawl 12y ago

They're trolling, right? this is a joke, right? Please tell me this is a joke. Edit: There's nothing on the page in the image: http://www.catholicvote.org/?s=firefox&submit=%C2%A0 http://www.catholicvote.org/?s=firefox&submit=%C2%A0 So i assume this is indeed just a joke.

gf6554 12y ago
Not a joke. See https://twitter.com/CatholicVote/status/452108584126410752 https://twitter.com/CatholicVote/status/452108584126410752. They should be free to speak their mind as the opposition, correct?
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  No no, it's already been clearly established in these threads. The pro-gay-marriage side is the only side that gets to speak their minds, because they are the side that is right. That's how freedom of speech works, after all. Only the person who is right gets it.
  - MetaCosm 12y ago
    You are free to say what you want, and free to deal with the repercussions. Everything can be framed as having two sides, but society at a certain point decides there isn't two sides. The "pro-interracial-marriage" side is the only side that gets to speak its mind these days, because they are the side that is right. Try coming out as against interracial marriage and you will be run out of your company on a rail, as you should be, rinse and repeat for gay marriage.
    - sliverstorm 12y ago
      They aren't really the side that is right, they are just the side that has 99% of people. Gay marriage is contentious because it's practically an even split right now.
      - MetaCosm 12y ago
        61% of young Republican leaning Americans (18-29) support marriage equality. The issue is settled, the trajectory is clear, it is just a few years until it will all be shaken out and boring and stats about people being against gay marriage will be treated with awe and shock. In 1986, only around 30% of Americans "approved" of interracial relationships -- now about that number have a family member IN an interracial relationship. Things move faster now, and in just a few years, the idea of being against same-sex marriage will seem just as insane about being against interracial marriage.

jasimq 12y ago

Freedom of speech goes both ways...

smtddr 12y ago
I probably shouldn't even bring this up. This whole thread will be knocked off the front-page shortly anyway... but I just had a heated debate with a coworker that's an Eich-supporter and found his logic disturbing and ethically broken when it expanded to views on racism, sexism, homophobia. But for all those people who support Eich and keep saying freedom-of-speech goes both ways even for "unpopular opinions": How would you define Hate Speech. Do you think it's okay? Do you think Google is right for not allowing Hate Speech on youtube? I'm only asking because I want to know if these Eich-supporters have a limit somewhere; where speech becomes harmful - from just expressing yourself to inflicting a tangible negative effect on others who do not wish it. While I'm not accusing Eich of hate speech, I believe his donation to an effort to make a law which forces his belief on others - something that has nothing to do with how he lives his own life - is similar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech >>In law, hate speech is any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group. Am I crazy for thinking that prop8 disparages the love between two men or women that want to get married? Isn't the core of prop8 based on people who cannot accept the LGBT community and want to keep marriage for themselves? Shouldn't society squash this kind of thing out of law?
- daveqr 12y ago
  >Isn't the core of prop8 based on people who cannot accept >the LGBT community and want to keep marriage for >themselves? Some people might feel that way, but there are arguments against gay marriage that have nothing to do with this. Some people feel gay marriage reduces freedom, some people are against the idea of government involvement in marriage, period (which is actually what I suspect Eich's view is), and some gay people are against gay marriage. >Shouldn't society squash this kind of thing out of law? Not just no, but hell no.
- 12y ago

rjknight 12y ago

This was the fairly inevitable conclusion of forcing him to quit. Nobody has come out of this looking good.

blindpixel 12y ago
I agree. The whole episode has been a disaster for Mozilla's mission.

mehwoot 12y ago

I don't know whether this is a joke or not, but what do you expect? Proposition 8 passed. A majority of people were in favor of it. You think those people would just rule out applying the same sort of pressure on mozilla that worked so effectively? This is why, despite supporting gay marriage, I think it is abhorrent that Brendan Eich was effectively forced to resign. He donated privately to a campaign that was supported by a majority of people, but somehow that makes it ok to destroy his career because we don't agree with his stance. I don't particularly want to inhabit a society where that is the norm. It makes me very uneasy.

ftfish 12y ago
Brendan Eich is a human/civil rights denier. Now that is abhorrent. "It makes me very uneasy." Oh no, I guess you're just going to have to be a decent human being from now on. Sorry.
te_chris 12y ago
I don't want to live in a society where people with bigoted and regressive views are merely considered as a difference of opinion. Human rights are absolute. EDIT: So many downvotes, wow.
- ftfish 12y ago
  "So many downvotes, wow." Is it really surprising considering that a lot of the people here are white racist sexist homophobic males with barely any social skills who laugh at how much they can relate to the "forever alone" meme? You know, after spending enough time reading HN comments I started thinking tech attracts the worst kind of people. Only recently I realized it's simply not true -- actually I'm kind of happy nobody compared homosexuality to bestialism or pedophillia (well, I haven't really read all the comments on this topic, but I am going to give HN the benefit of the doubt). It's just that the world is a pretty awful place -- unless you are the "default human being" (white, hetero, male). But it is getting better (very, very slowly). I'm just happy that there are people like you (and this whole Eich episode proved there's a lot of such people) who make being in the tech industry (and generally being around other human beings) quite bearable.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

sp332 12y ago
Technically, Eich resigned. I assumed it was more from outside pressure than from the board.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]