[PLUG-TALK] [PLUG] Alternatives to Firefox & Thunderbird

Rich Shepard rshepard at appl-ecosys.com
Fri Apr 4 17:40:17 UTC 2014


On Fri, 4 Apr 2014, Keith Lofstrom wrote:

> How about thinking it through?

Keith,

   A well thought-out and cogent presentation. I have a lesbian niece (in
Massacusettes; not yet married but in a committed relationship) and have
had many gay and lesbian friends over the years.

> I hope Mr. Eich finds a higher-paying job working for a company whose
> ideals match his own. That way, my ideological friends will know not to
> seek employment or send money there. Better yet, I hope he thinks through
> his ideals and corrects them occasionally, as we all should (including
> liberals). Wisdom is a process, not an endpoint.

   This is not a solution, but an avoidance of what is, IMNSHO, the
underlying issue best expressed by Mozilla's Board Chair. In a democracy we
_must_ put up with, and work with, people who hold beliefs and values
contrary to our own. We don't have to like them or their prejudices, but as
long as they do the job they were hired to do we work with them. Mr. Eich's
donations to the anti-same-sex marriage measure in California apparently did
not raise any concerns when he was the CTO, so why should it when he's the
CEO?

   I do not care where you are located on the political compass
(liberal-conservative; libertarian-authoritarian), nor what religious
beliefs you have, or whether you have any. Not allowing anyone to hold those
beliefs, or even act on them, diminishes all of us.

   As Martin Niemoller wrote (among many versions) after he became
disallusioned with the Nazis,

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was
not a Socialist.

"Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -- Because I
was not a Trade Unionist.

"Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a
Jew.

"Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me."

   We may completely disagree with Eich and others of his ilk, but we cannot
remove tham because that makes us no better than those who hold beliefs
counter to ours who want to remove us for the same reason: being different.

   If you've never been subjected to prejudice for who you are or what you
believe, you're probably in a minority and quite lucky. And you should try
it on for size before taking that same approach to others.

> This probably belongs in plug-talk.

   To where I've moved it.

Rich



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