There’s a more “civilized and softer” side to the idea of show trials, which was brought to us this week by Mozilla. It means that when someone carries a belief in his heart that doesn’t meet the approval of the preachers of political correctness, he’s merely forced to resign from his job. In this case, the person supported the idea — shocking! — that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. It doesn’t matter that he kept quiet about his beliefs, the thought reformers made a point of “outing” him for his thought crimes. That’s what happened to Brendan Eich, former CEO of Mozilla. We know he contributed towards Proposition 8, the 2008 California ballot measure that defined marriage traditionally. But we don’t technically know how Eich voted on it because we all still technically have the right to a secret ballot. Or are you beginning to wonder?
—”The Softer Side of Show Trials, brought to you by your Friends at Mozilla”
Scott,
Andrew Sullivan had an interesting article on this mess:
“Will he now be forced to walk through the streets in shame? Why not the stocks? The whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society. If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out. If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us.”
Until Brendan Eich gets his job back with increased remuneration, I think everyone who disapproves of the way he was hounded out should stick to Internet Explorer (or, if you want to take the risk, Chrome or Safari, velc.) and let Mozilla know. These firms fear losing the gay-bully customer base (Things haven’t changed – A disproportionate number of bullies at my old high school were homosexuals – during my first two or three years, at the end of which our good headmaster was able to lead his staff in stamping on the practice), but if they give way to them they should lose us.
The problem with so many people like Eich is they always apologize and go on the defensive when they should never apologize and immediately go on the offensive. He made a private donation and should’ve fired everyone in his organization who started this whispering campaign against him. Then, he should’ve publicly noted that Mozilla supports the right of freedom of conscience and freedom of speech for all, including him.
Public opinion seems to be swayed by shows of strength, not weakness.