Brendan Eich

[chris_gerrib]

I’ve been told repeatedly by libertarians in various blogs (see The Usual Suspects) that if we repealed the public accommodations portion of the Civil Rights Act, segregation would not happen. What I’ve been told would happen is that, if a business decided not to serve blacks (for example), protests and other market forces would be directed at the owner such that they changed their policies.

In this case, the libertarians were right. Brendan Eich made public statements that customers and vendors of Mozilla found problematic. They exercised their free speech rights to protest and use market forces against Mozilla. The (private) Board of Directors then either suggested Eich resign or accepted his resignation when it was offered.

What Eich's supporters are seeking is the right to not be criticized. What "libertarians" are seeking is not "liberty" at all but agreement with their (conservative) point of view.

Comments

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Well, I think the missing piece is that only happens when there's a critical mass of public perception that has changed enough. To be brutally honest, I'm not entirely sure you wouldn't still have some places in some small towns in certain parts of the US that would be segregated...

I think Bill Maher actually put it quite well in his show last week, that what is confusing the right at the moment is the 'left'(*) have finally brought a knife to a knife fight and they don't know what to do about it apart from scream WAHHHHHHH IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!

(*) I say 'left' in inverted commas because I haven't a fucking clue how anybody claiming to be a libertarian or a fiscal conservative could possibly believe some of the codswallop being put out at the moment.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Well, "it's not FAIR!!!!" with a side of "they're PICKING ON US!!!!" is pretty much right-wing SOP.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I have noticed that the thrust of the Koch editorial did seem to be "How dare you criticize us you dreadful little proles!"

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

yes, and now I notice that Rand has decided calling an academic out for "manipulating data" is not the same as calling them an "academic fraud."

I wish him good luck with that in a court.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do.... Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke mind you.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Chick-Fil-A? Duck Dynasty?

As for small low-brow communities, what if the segregated diner is the only cafe in town? How many of its low-brow citizens would choose to go hungry over such a principle?

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

As for small low-brow communities, what if the segregated diner is the only cafe in town? This is exactly (one of) the failure modes of libertarianism.

My point, however is that in this case libertarians seem to have been hoisted on their own petard.