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Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge

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Re: Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge

#341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please let me clarify. Women are not a protected class. Sex is a protected class.

For a "clarification", that's a pretty stunning error. Sex is not a class in the first place. Sex is a protected attribute or classification. Women are a protected class, and so, notionally, are men.

Then I guess the lawyer who taught my Employment Law Course didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

https://content.next.westlaw.com/Document/Ibb0a38daef0511e28...

Re: Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the progressive left THRUST Damore and anyone who might have similar thoughts/questions into the welcoming arms of the alt-right. I'm disappointed with the "Goolag" t-shirts, but he did lose his livelihood, had his professional reputation destroyed, and only a limited time to cash out. So this socially awkward nerd did what any sensible person would do, rode the wave that was sent his way the best he coul…

Even at this point, he would likely be easily able to get another engineering job if he wished. So I think you are vastly overstating the damage to his career. For sure, if he had admitted he was wrong or at least naive, and shut up about it, he'd have no problems at all. By doubling down on his statements and participating in lawsuits against Google, he's making himself less and less attractive to future employers.…

> what about all the women whose careers he was advocating for destroying?

Would you kindly provide a source for this? Preferably from the memo itself?

Re: Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge

#343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What core assumptions was he attacking specifically? Can you point to specific in his memo?

It’s a core assumption that when it comes to employment, men and women are generally similar at a cognitive level and equally well suited to different white-collar professions. We adopted that presumption as a protective mechanism, when we came out of a long period of invoking pseudo-scientific ideas about differences between men and women to justify sexism.

Can you point to anywhere in his memo where he claims that men and women's cognitive level is different? Again I have read this quite a few times and I don't see it.

So can you point me to exactly where he claims that?

Re: Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge

#345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the progressive left THRUST Damore and anyone who might have similar thoughts/questions into the welcoming arms of the alt-right. I'm disappointed with the "Goolag" t-shirts, but he did lose his livelihood, had his professional reputation destroyed, and only a limited time to cash out. So this socially awkward nerd did what any sensible person would do, rode the wave that was sent his way the best he coul…

He has no agency? He chose to speak up and then he chose to go down the path he did. It is an impressive feat of mental gymnastics to both kinda sorta acknowledge the alt-right might not be a great group of guys but then also claim Damore had no choice but to pull into that port in a storm of his own making. Allow me to pour out a beaker of Soylent for the poor, downtrodden white man.

It's a despicable thing to destroy someone over an idea, despite the contents of that idea.

I think tech workers are easy targets. For instance, we've all heard about the need for diversity in tech, but never hear about accredited investors being < 6 % female and < 1 % black.

Re: Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the progressive left THRUST Damore and anyone who might have similar thoughts/questions into the welcoming arms of the alt-right. I'm disappointed with the "Goolag" t-shirts, but he did lose his livelihood, had his professional reputation destroyed, and only a limited time to cash out. So this socially awkward nerd did what any sensible person would do, rode the wave that was sent his way the best he coul…

Even at this point, he would likely be easily able to get another engineering job if he wished. So I think you are vastly overstating the damage to his career. For sure, if he had admitted he was wrong or at least naive, and shut up about it, he'd have no problems at all. By doubling down on his statements and participating in lawsuits against Google, he's making himself less and less attractive to future employers.…

Based on your comments it's quite clear that you either did not read his memo or do not understand statistics. Secondly, even if you take the most egregious possible interpretations of every sentence he wrote and try to take them out of context as much as possible to put them in a bad light, the national outcry is still completely unnecessary and disgusting. Fine, fire him, but he's about as meek and mild as they get, not some David Duke monster. He should've never made the news.

Re: Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge

#347
post #105

This sounds like the federal government concluded that Damore's firing did not violate federal employment law. I think (but I'm no expert) that the issue of whether Damore's firing violated California employment law is still an open question.

This is correct. The National Labor Relations Board issued an Advice Memo, declining to prosecute a case under the federal National Labor Relations Act.

Damore's California lawsuit, which per the first page of the complaint, lists the below causes of action under various California laws, is unaffected.

CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT:

1. Violation of Cal. Labor Code § 1101

2. Violation of Cal. Labor Code § 1102

3. Workplace Discrimination on the basis of Gender and/or Race in Violation of FEHA

4.Workplace Harassment in Violation of FEHA

5.Retaliation in Violation of FEHA

6.Retaliation in Violation of Public Policy

7.Retaliation in Violation of Cal. Lab. Code § 1102.5

8.Failure To Prevent Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation

9.Unfair Business Practices, Bus. & Prof. Code Section 17200 et seq

10.Declaratory Relief

Re: Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge

#348
post #100

What I think of his views (I disagree) is not germaine to the question: was it sensible to write and publish? It was not. That I disagree with his premise and polemic makes it easier for me to align desire and reality, but the reality of the situation doesn't change because of my desires: he was stupid to publish and Google were within their rights to fire him. All the other observed comments about liberal/conservati…

There was no court involved in this yet. This was the opinion of a lawyer at the National Labor Relations Board that they should not take up Damore's case.

Re: Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge

#349
post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is an impressive feat of mental gymnastics to both kinda sorta acknowledge the alt-right might not be a great group of guys but then also claim Damore had no choice but to pull into that port It's an impressive feat of mental gymnastics to put people like Dave Rubin, Gad Saad, and Steven Pinker into the category of "Alt-Right." (The first two being an openly gay man in a gay marriage, and a Lebanese jew.) There is…

The comment you replied to does not describe those figures as alt-right. On the other hand, the very first person Damore engaged after being fired was Stefan Molyneux, who is undeniably alt-right. It's also insipid to suggest that being gay or Jewish precludes being alt-right or otherwise bigoted. What would that make Milo Yiannopoulos?

I agree with you, although I had never heard of Stefan Molyneux until that interview came out, and I wouldn't be surprised if Damore hadn't either. He was probably really glad to be able to speak his mind, and may not have realized what he was doing. I'm definitely giving him the benefit of the doubt here, a position which I admit is somewhat undermined by him (apparently) tweeting out Breitbart articles.

I listened to most of his interviews tho, and he didn't sound alt-right to me at all. He sounded pretty Libertarian/Classical Liberal (he describes himself as a Classical Liberal)

Re: Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge

#350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If he had stuck to the point about how ignorant-but-well-meaning people can trip over rapidly changing "acceptable" discourse, then none of this would have escalated as it did. That's an argument that can be made, and there's definitely things Google and other companies could do to address that problem. He went much further, though, basically asserting that women engineers didn't belong at Google, and that in fact th…

Can you point to where he says any of what you claim? I have read that memo quite a few time and see no such claims anywhere.

Here's a couple:

    Women on average show a higher interest in people
    and men in things
    We can make software engineering more people-oriented
    with pair programming and more collaboration.
    Unfortunately, there may be limits to how people-
    oriented certain roles at Google can be and we
    shouldn't deceive ourselves or students into
    thinking otherwise (some of our programs to get
    female students into coding might be doing this).

    Women on average are more cooperative
    [...but] Competitiveness and self reliance can be
    valuable traits and we shouldn't necessarily
    disadvantage those that have them
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