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[–] laikaislost 3 points -1 points (+2|-3) ago  (edited ago)

Why should Brandon Eich have gotten fired from Mozilla for giving money to an anti-gay marriage campaign?

Because a company has decided that they don't want to alienate some of their customer base (the gays), and when an employee's donation publicly reflects negatively on the company's image, they should have the right to take action. The problem is that for Brandon, the donation was not limited to his private life. When people associated it with Mozilla rather than Brandon, it stopped being private.

Mozilla and Brandon still have free speech since no one was arrested. It just Mozilla is profit motivated, and it is not good business to piss off potential customers.

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[–] Somali 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

All that does is open up a different avenue for silencing and intimidating people for practicing the right to free speech. Whether your life is ruined through being imprisoned or unfairly fired/made unemployable doesn't matter. It's basically the same thing except in prison they still feed you.

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[–] laikaislost 2 points -2 points (+0|-2) ago 

for practicing the right to free speech

You have the right to free speech, not the right to avoid consequences.

or unfairly fired/made unemployable

It was fair though. If Mozilla were to continue Brandon's employment, it would have cost them a lot of money and marketshare. His actions were reflecting on Mozilla, and they decided that the negative press from people who support gay marriage was not worth his value as an employee.

It's basically the same thing except in prison they still feed you.

Except in the real world, you are free to find another job. It's your fault if no one will hire you for the same job as before. No one cares if you donate to anti-gay-marriage organizations at McDonalds store #34587. You don't have a constitutional right to be employed in your field at the same position you were at at a previous job.