By ZACHARY OLSAVICKY
Opinion Editor
Freedom of speech is an amazing tool in a free society—not exclusively because of the ability to dissent and change government, but because of people’s capacity to say incredibly stupid things. For every March on Washington, there is a George Wallace; for the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” there is Nickelback. Everyone is entitled to their own tastes and opinions and ideas—but that doesn’t make people free of consequences.
Brendan Eich, now the former CEO of Mozilla Corporation, is the latest in the long line of case studies of how people are held accountable for distasteful ideas. A founder of the Mozilla project, which owns the popular Firefox web browser, Eich was hired to be its CEO on March 24. But his appointment to the position brought an old story to the limelight, as people were reminded that Eich donated $1,000 to the anti-gay Prop 8 campaign in 2008. A number of websites and users boycotted Firefox in response, and Eich stepped down on April 3.
Was the resignation a victory for civil rights? The political commenter Andrew Sullivan described it as “obvious and ugly intolerance,” blaming “left-liberal tolerance” for the situation. The Atlantic writer Connor Friedersdorf wrote that holding a CEO responsible for personal beliefs would “damage our society.”
The situation is concerning, but more for the reasons Friedersdorf explains than Sullivan’s. Pointing fingers as “left-liberal intolerance” is specious, especially when you consider that people are criticizing an anti-gay stance. And Eich must take the burden of criticism for his views—freedom of speech means that your critics have a voice, too.
What is concerning about the situation is not so much individual speech as it is corporate speech. The dating website OKCupid encouraged Firefox users to access the site with a different browser. People can say what they want to in a free society, but why is a business taking a stance on marriage equality? I don’t disagree with OKCupid’s intent—I generally do not like anti-gay individuals—but I wouldn’t want to see Mozilla or Eich criticized by any company I work for.
Businesses are encroaching on workers’ lives in increasingly negative ways. Some companies require their workers to state on social media that their views do not reflect their employer’s views. It’s becoming an unwritten rule that work emails should be accessible (and responded to) at all times of the day. People are seen as representatives of a business at all times. People are right to dislike anti-gay stances, but what of individuals taking stances on other issues? Should a business fire an employee for donating to the Center for American Progress?
Individuals are protected by the First Amendment, but when we start offering those protections to businesses, we undermine the original intent of the Constitution. Eich’s views are concerning, but they don’t inherently make Mozilla anti-gay. Corporations aren’t people; they’re made up of people.
Those individuals have the right to express their beliefs outside of work, but when they’re on the clock, the interests of the company take center stage. Let individuals take issue with individual beliefs—companies should remain in the business of being in business.
