At the end of the day, society-at-large has a choice about what kind of value judgments it applies to whom in our society. Around the time of Eichgate, one of the most popular sentiments was that a commitment to a political freedom of speech did not guarantee freedom from the social fallout of said speech. The detractors were absolutely right -- you can say what you like, but the social consequences of your speech are yours to reap.<p>That said, I wonder if the mass-mob of people calling for Eich's head really understood the full reprecussions of what their witchhunt meant for how leaders are selected in the tech world, if you're thinking about the general question of "which individuals should be qualified as leaders in major tech companies?" I personally suspect society is much worse off by applying social justice criteria to unrelated leadership positions that are attempting to improve a completely separate area of society (technical transmission of data across a standard-driven medium).<p>Given our current fetishization of "majority-is-right" morality in the US, however, I suspect this subtelty is lost on most of the mob.