Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO

Re:Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO by gklitt on Thursday April 03, 2014 @05:31PM (#7526964)

This opinion is deeply disconcerting to me. I think our society needs to be very cautious in drawing the line between "acceptable" and "unacceptable" views. Plenty of people have views I disagree with, but which I still consider within the realm of "acceptability". If people don't have a right to reasonable private opinions, the political majority can wave around stories like this one as an incentive to prevent minorities from speaking up.

If Eich had actively spoken out hatefully against gay people, I would agree that his resignation would be warranted. But he has done nothing of the sort, and committed in a blog post to equality at Mozilla. I think Mozilla's actions smell like a hasty overreaction which sets a dangerous precedent.

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Re:Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO by jamesaguilar on Thursday April 03, 2014 @05:37PM (#7527023)

> If people don't have a right to reasonable private opinions

I question the assumption that this opinion: "gay people ought not be allowed to marry" is a reasonable one. I'll accept common, but I don't agree that it's reasonable.

Also, he does still have the right to that opinion. He just doesn't have the right to express it free of consequences.

Also, he didn't hold that opinion privately. He held it publicly (by donating money to support its enforcement via the law).

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Re:Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO by matthewmacleod on Thursday April 03, 2014 @05:43PM (#7527088)

If people don't have a right to reasonable private opinions

Define reasonable.

The fact that you can't demonstrates why this argument is baseless. "Reasonableness" is decided by social desires, ultimately, and that's exactly what happened in this case.

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