Don't confuse the online world with the real one.
> There are some out there who would love fans of Ruby on Rails to suffer because of its association with DHH.
This isn’t about DHH spouting whatever he is spouting.
It’s about people trying to convince others to not associate with Rails because of DHH.
Society's defense against this should be that we don't use mobs to punish people for saying things we disagree with and anybody who attempts to do that gets laughed off the stage. Because as soon as that's not what happens, the public discourse gets marred by self-censorship until enough time passes with it not happening that people stop expecting it to and thereby stop worrying that they can't know what's going to be declared an offense tomorrow.
But now that it has happened recently, the only way to get it back in the short term is to have people posting under pseudonyms.
Dhh said some stupid stuff and now people are calling him out. Why should dhh be allowed to say whatever wants but no one is allowed to criticize him?
Attack their arguments, not their family, employer, etc.
You can't have it both ways, either DHH is free to speak his mind on any subject he chooses, and so is everyone else, or nobody is actually free to speak.
People are asking ruby on rails to stop associating with dhh because of his remarks.
That's it.
Or is this one those "free speech but not like that" moments?
What a weird justification for cowardice.
It is your life, but if you have the principles of your convictions you should probably be willing to stand by the things you say, or why say them?
DHH is presumably proud of his racism, hence why he publishes it, and therefor he's willing to enjoy any consequences that come from that.
The alternative is that you're only willing to have opinions unless someone disagrees with you, which just seems sad.