Fun fact: the author of the memo earned a PhD in Biology from Harvard. Google can fire him and get away with it, but it's going to be tough, very tough, for him to be falsely characterized as someone who is misinformed or unscientific. And the court of public opinion may well be more important in this controversy than any court of law.
Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
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Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#32I haven't read the memo but I have read some summaries of it. Even before the memo was released I had a negative opinion of it. Not because someone spoke out their mind but because someone decided to just go and shout out their obviously controversial beliefs to the world expecting for his ideas to be taken seriously and for there to be no negative consequences. If you want people to care about what you think and hav…
"Even before the memo was released I had a negative opinion of it."
That's a problem. I read the whole thing and was annoyed that TechDirt cut the charts and the references.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#33I haven't read the memo but I have read some summaries of it. Even before the memo was released I had a negative opinion of it. Not because someone spoke out their mind but because someone decided to just go and shout out their obviously controversial beliefs to the world expecting for his ideas to be taken seriously and for there to be no negative consequences. If you want people to care about what you think and hav…
How do we know that he expected no negative consequences?
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#34I haven't read the memo but I have read some summaries of it. Even before the memo was released I had a negative opinion of it. Not because someone spoke out their mind but because someone decided to just go and shout out their obviously controversial beliefs to the world expecting for his ideas to be taken seriously and for there to be no negative consequences. If you want people to care about what you think and hav…
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Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#35The author's arguments have been completely misrepresented. He pointed out widely-believed and sometimes scientifically-established differences in the DISTRIBUTION OF traits in men and women. He said that those differences make attempts to achieve numerical parity misguided, discriminatory, and harmful. What is his conclusion about how we should behave? "Treat people as individuals, not as just another member of their group." Wow, what a monster.
The reaction to the memo is really the most damning thing about the whole affair. Everyone is just rushing to virtue signal, to demonstrate their own purity of thought. They've just proved the author's point. Honestly, Google might have even been rational to fire him, due to the toxic situation created by the mass outrage. How incredibly damning of our society.
A particular brand of liberalism has reached the point of being a religion, and the establishment is running an inquisition against any who dare to question its points of dogma.
This is the closing of the American mind.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#36He's a good man. I'm sorry to hear google is such a hypocritical company. They preach "tolerance" and yet destroy those who fall out of line from their ideology. They'd make great commies. As for James, I'm sure he'll be able to find a better job. There are still a lot of people in this country with their heads on right. I think I'm going to go as google free as possible now. What's the best alternative to Gmail?
Yes, I'm sure one of the wealthiest companies with some of the best-compensated employees in the world will make terrific communists.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#37I haven't read the memo but I have read some summaries of it. Even before the memo was released I had a negative opinion of it. Not because someone spoke out their mind but because someone decided to just go and shout out their obviously controversial beliefs to the world expecting for his ideas to be taken seriously and for there to be no negative consequences. If you want people to care about what you think and hav…
You can't cultivate a positive reputation and express controversial beliefs
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#38I read the memo and didn't find it particularly persuasive; but this dismissal does further its core point. It's a bit tone deaf of Google to fire an employee concerned about groupthink.
This is not a workable argument against firing someone. If it were, all you'd have to do is say, "We have too much group-think here," followed by any egregiously awful statement, and you'd be insulated from consequences. That's just not how these things work.
I think any good argument against firing him has to hinge on the truth of what he said besides the group-think claims. Regrettably for him, I don't think there's much to most of it.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#39I haven't read the memo but I have read some summaries of it. Even before the memo was released I had a negative opinion of it. Not because someone spoke out their mind but because someone decided to just go and shout out their obviously controversial beliefs to the world expecting for his ideas to be taken seriously and for there to be no negative consequences. If you want people to care about what you think and hav…
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#40I read the memo and didn't find it particularly persuasive; but this dismissal does further its core point. It's a bit tone deaf of Google to fire an employee concerned about groupthink.
You can't express vast generalizations that are stereotypes and expect the rest of us to feel comfortable working with you.