As a trans person, I am happy that my browser developers are on my side and not the side of the people who'd rather see me be harassed or bullied into suicide.
This story has played out countless times, whether it's world hunger in the 1980s, third-wave feminism in the 1990s, global warming in the 2000s, or generic environmentalism (i.e. "greenwashing") in the 2010s. If they wanted to, corporations can be a force for good. The treadmill of causes du jour gives them a convenient excuse to not try.
For the sake of the trans community I'd like to think that this time they're being sincere. This time it's authentic. But I find it hard to believe. Maybe I'm too cynical.
It doesn't matter that they're not sincere. It doesn't matter that they're not authentic. It matters that they help normalize pro-trans messaging, rather than normalizing anti-trans messaging, or doing nothing. Yes, it'd be nice to live in a world where you get to choose between the company that sincerely supports trans people and the company that merely does so for optics but still fires those sincerely opposing them, but that's not the one we live in.
To be honest, I think most of the trans community would be perfectly happy to have companies simply not actively funnel money into politicians who want them to stop existing. Alas.
But really, I just can’t get past the idea of “it doesn’t matter if they’re not sincere” when in the same paragraph you spell out exactly why that’s an absurd thing to say.
But they're neither. They’re indifferent with some opportunist exploitation sprinkled on top.
Some of the rabble go quiet, the rest double-down. They try to convince themselves and everyone else they weren't fooled. They want to believe they're still a voice in a worthy social cause, and not a pawn in a game that they don't even know how to play.
As usual, we tech workers prioritize group identity over personal integrity.
Ironic you're bothered Eich's name was "ran through the mud", but had no problem going out of your way to dig up and use my full name.
Everyone at Mozilla knew about his donation before he was promoted to CEO. Lots of people had opinions (and shouldn't they be allowed to?), but Mozilla officially supported him (this was his boss: https://blog.lizardwrangler.com/2014/03/26/building-a-global...). He was not fired, he stepped down.
Donating money to prevent people from getting married feels more in line with "malice" to me than people reacting to his donation, but hey, that's just my opinion and I haven't worked at Mozilla for over a decade.
Most importantly, though, Eich just proves that a single person left the company. I'm not sure how that indicates web standards were hurt or Mozilla's mission of a free and open web was compromised – like I said before, you can both care about the people around you and also care about an open web.
Beyond a limited number of companies who go against popular opinion (possibly bcos their target customers are too), most are going to publicly support all the same socially acceptable stands. This doesn't mean there are some vile people employed in those positive companies or some decent, well meaning pepole working in the bad companies just for a paycheck. it's hard to judge with a simple look.
As a consumer you are free to support or boycott a product on any criteria that you like but question is how much of a realworld difference their placit support for your cause makes.
Seems best just to leave politics out of business.
You literally can't, though. Business is inherently political. And even if the corporation itself may attempt to remain neutral and refuse to participate in any donations or fundraisers, the C-level executives and the shareholders who derive most of the excess value produced by the company are still people with opinions who have a lot of disposable income they can throw one way or another.
If you truly think business can avoid politics you should ask yourself why all the companies priding themselves in not engaging in politics are run by people who lean right-libertarian. It's hard to see the water when you're a fish.
Further, only one side takes some ignorant position like 'doing nothing is taking sides!'