Mozilla's discriminatory anti-discrimination crusade

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Mozilla's discriminatory anti-discrimination crusade

By Ashe Schow • 8/25/15 4:20 PM

Mozilla, the tech giant behind the Firefox Internet browser, is continuing down its path of eliminating unsavory thoughts and beliefs from within its ranks. The latest example involves an anonymous post to the website reddit from someone who may or may not be a Mozilla employee.

The reddit post, from user "aoiyama," was submitted to the website on Aug. 18 and discussed the recent departure of Mozilla employee Christie Koehler.

"Frankly everyone was glad to see the back of Christie Koehler. She was bat---t insane and permanently offended at everything," aoiyama wrote. "When she and the rest of her blue-haired nose-pierced ###### feminists are gone, the tech industry will breathe a sigh of relief."

(It should be noted that Koehler has neither blue hair nor a nose piercing.)

Mozilla CEO Chris Beard commented on the post on Monday, threatening to fire aoiyama if he is indeed an employee.

"When I talk about crossing the line from criticism to hate speech, I'm talking about when you start saying 'someone's kind doesn't belong here, and we'll all be happy when they're gone,'" Beard said. "If that's not hate speech, it's pretty damn close and we're not going to walk that line at Mozilla."

Beard added: "So if, and when, we identify who this person is and if they are an employee, they will be fired. Either way, they are not welcome to continue to participate in the Mozilla project, so if you cross that line, I'm asking you now: Please leave, because you're not welcome."

Setting aside the irony of telling an employee who does not like the current attitudes of activists in the tech industry that their kind doesn't belong at Mozilla, Beard is continuing a new tradition at the company.

The former CEO, Brendan Eich, was forced to resign after it was discovered he had donated — six years previously — to an anti-gay marriage initiative, Proposition 8, in California. Same-sex marriage supporters protested the years-old donation by boycotting Mozilla, resulting in Eich's departure.

The boycotters conveniently ignored the fact that Proposition 8 passed comfortably in the liberal state of California in 2008. Incidentally, when Eich made the donation, then-senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama was still saying marriage was "between a man and a woman."

But at Mozilla, holding someone accountable for views that do not jibe with the present moral authority is apparently a company policy. And those who dare to question the acceptable narratives are cast out as heathens.

One could make the argument that aoiyama was responding to perceived injustice in the tech industry, where a "war on women" narrative is thriving. Years ago, women began commenting on a perceived injustice in the tech industry, and the industry has been trying to adapt ever since.

The difference here is the attention one gender received in response to the perceived injustice and the type of injustice accepted by Mozilla. And yes, sexual harassment is awful and should be eliminated, but so should the new acceptance of accusations without evidence. And just as discriminating against women is wrong, so is discriminating against men.

It should also be noted that aoiyama had previously made one other reddit post — to the subreddit r/MensRights (full disclosure, many of my articles get posted there by community members). He had asked whether it was discrimination for his company (he did not mention what company he worked for) to send out a memo from Google seeking female employees to attend an annual conference.

While some commenters suggested that the email was evidence of anti-male bias, many said what the company did was not wrong and even posted links to laws stating as much. Aoiyama did not post again for three months.

Companies are allowed to determine what speech is unacceptable among their employees (journalists are not supposed to show their bias, employees should not swear or speak ill of the company, etc.), but this appears to go too far. Determining that this potential employee's happiness over a departed coworker is "hate speech" is a stretch.

The message at Mozilla is crystal clear: Toe the liberal line or leave.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/mozillas-discriminatory-anti-discrimination-crusade/article/2570792

[GrandMaster]

I liked it when people could go on the internet and share anonymous opinions without getting fired and I would like to see the last bastion of non-profit web browsing mirror those ideals instead of promoting trendy political agendas.

[Circaflex]

The world has become to PC, specifically in the US. It's a shame really.