I think a more interesting question would be why would a KKK member hire an Asian American to be their architect? Just to add to a guy giving money in 2008 to support Prop 8 is not the same as the KKK. Yes he is supporting denying rights to homosexuals but that is not quite the same as calling for killing of all homosexuals. I've had a lot of clients who I've not liked personally who I've disagreed with politically. Frankly if a KKK guy is willing to hire me and will also pay his bills on time I would take his money and then make a rather sizable donation to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Honestly that might say more about where society is when a white supremacist has to hire one of the mud people to design his building than a member of the master race.
California is not Texas but some of the people here saying they wouldn't work for this guy or anyone who shared those beliefs live in Texas. And the KKK the same as giving money to Prop-8 in 2008? Not disagreeing with that all. It is the company's right to fire him if they believe it is hurting their brand. Again I am talking about me personally.
Just to add another point since everyone is bringing up the KKK. Context always matters. Yes if someone was a member of Al Qaeda and was in their spare time plotting on building a bomb to blow up the White House I probably wouldn't work for them. For one being a member of Al Qaeda isn't legal while the KKK is also on the terrorism watch list. So if one of those guys hired me to design their bunker to store their weapons for the upcoming Jihad / race war / let's kill a lot of people I wouldn't take the job. I would probably turn them in to the FBI. The situation here though was in 2008 which polling then showed most Americans actually were still against gay marriage and let's not forget that prop-8 actually was voted in by the California electorate. While we might not agree with Eich his opinion was shared by many at the time. That doesn't make it right but at the same time though does it mean that, speaking personally and not from the business standpoint, that he deserves to lose his job in 2014? If we are going to talk about extreme examples then if you worked for an employer who voted for and gave to the GW Bush campaign in 2004 would you think that guy should be removed from his job in 2014?
I use Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Sea Monkey, Maxthon, and Torch. ClutchFans is my home page for Firefox- so I can't give it up.
Like what others replied, he tried to toe the line of not compromising his ideals while appeasing the protestors when the real focus was whether he changed his stance on gay marriages in 08 to what more and more people are holding 6 years later. He could've kept his job by coming out and said he was wrong at that time and changed his mind. It's his choice not to, and I deeply respect him for maintaining that in the face of increased public pressure and disgust. Not too great a distraction for Mozilla though...
Everything that is coded for you is most likely going to be by a vehemently inclusive community. If you're using Chrome, Google helped get Obama to power, and has been one of the biggest supporters of gay rights. If you're using IE, I just feel sorry for you. This is why change will happen---because people at the forefront of driving it have a certain set of values---data-driven openness, that leaves no room for discrimination. It doesn't matter if you don't accept the wave of changes happening now. If you have children, they will. Homosexuality will become an accepted norm: as it has been in nature, and as it always should have been.
I guess would people find it more acceptable if he publicly changed his stance to save his job yet privately still felt the same way?
If you choose to use a product based on your social beliefs, then I would have to call you a moron. Further, if this choice is based on an employees personal belief, you are a bigger moron. Nobody is perfect. And an employees view on marriage rights should be the least of ones concerns when it comes to being picky on a product.
it's stupid to me and I wouldn't have stopped using firefox because of the CEO, but I wouldn't call anyone who decides to do so a moron. People have the right to behave as they feel. Firefox did what was best for the company by forcing him out because he was hurting them.
Really? So, the people that boycotted segregationist bus companies were morons? And anyone who does not give money to a company, because the owners of said company will then go on to give that money to social causes the buyer disagrees with, they are morons?
I suspect that happens all the time. The President changed his stance publicly, but do we know what's truly in his heart?
While the KKK might be one extreme, a political campaign is then certainly the other. If I knew the CEO of the company I was at was anti-gay, and had donated money in an effort to curtail gay rights, I would look for another job. I wouldn't quit outright, but I wouldn't be comfortable working for a leader who's values were so backwards in my eyes. It's one thing to disagree with politics, but it's another to disagree with fundamental issues of what is right and wrong. You say this is your personal decision. That's fine. Are you saying you can work for someone so long as what they are doing is legal? I think that's a very open-minded way to look at things, and commendable in it's own way. But not everyone can separate work and life values.
Has Mozilla conducted an inquisition into the political views of their other employees? Why is Eich singled out?
Given that we have tons of competition in consumer products that are largely interchangeable - why not? There's no difference to me between Brawny paper towels or Bounty or some other crappy brand. if I know that the Koch boys get richer when I buy Brawny (they do), I'm gonna choose bounty or another brand every time - in fact it makes my life easier to eliminate one of already too-many options from the table, i spend less time having to thnk about it and my transaction costs are lowered. Contrst this with you, who specifically excludes such information in a purhasing decision because it's "moronic" - do you sit and contemplate the Brawny man's tan, chiseled good looks? Do you calculate absorption per square inch and cost it out on a fractional penny basis? How much time does this in-depth research take you?
Eich was not an owner. Eich is not using Mozilla to discriminate. This is where people like you fail to understand this. Using segregationist bus companies is a failed analogy comparison. Further, you can still disagree with gay marriage but not hate gays. Personally I believe marriage is the wrong approach for the rights gays seek. Its less about rights and more about "equality". What is going on now is reverse discrimination. What people like you are suggesting is that if enough people complain about a persons personal beliefs, then you have a right to persecute them and get them fired. Do you feel this is right? Do you think it was fair to expose gay people 20 years ago and get them fired...but you think its ok to do it now because they don't support your beliefs? You are no different than the so called bigots you claim to despise.
I buy whatever product works best for me. I dont burden myself with hypothetical burdens. I dont' care if my oil comes from Venezuela. I don't care if the worker who built my cell phone jumped off a building immediately after building it. I dont care if the worker who harvested my food died that night from overworking. I don't care. You don't care. And nearly every other American doesn't care. Every company has their demons. And if a company's CEO doesn't believe in gay marriage, I will reassure you that is the last of my worries compared to the ones I have already listed. So yes sir, if you believe a CEO's gay marriage views are more important than the slave labor we use across the globe, then I will call you moronic every day of the week.
Exactly how many users did it cost? It could be said that it might have gained them more users (see Chic-fil-A debacle) Either way, no users would be gained or lost if some reverse discriminatory bigots left his personal beliefs out of the limelight.
I really doubt anybody jumped ship to Mozilla or from Mozilla due to this controversy. I highly doubt any employee was seriously looking for a new job because the CEO, who employees probably wouldn't even recognize walking down the hall, donated money to limit gay rights. Even the blog stated that Eich's views had not been detrimental to the business prior to this controversy. I stopped using Mozilla because Chrome is a superior product. Mozilla is only my secondary, if for some reason Chrome is not supported by a domain, only because I am familiar with it and it is better than Internet Explorer. I don't think about the CEO or companies' political ideology and say "I will use or not use this product", although I am now considering it because Mozilla took a stance that holds its employees accountable for personal, private views.
