Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge

Post by walshemj » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 3:54 PM UTC

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #676

dragonwriter wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only way that even the most ardent opponents of Damore's memo can come to a "discriminatory" and "harassment" interpretation, is to disregard a literal, face-value reading of the memo and impute motivations to him. Motivation isn't what defines harassment; effect on others is what is relevant to harassment; not only is imputing a motive not necessary to finding harassment in the act of presenting the memo as he…

Is there legal backing to your assertion, or is that just your opinion? Clearly that can’t be true either. Otherwise, I can claim that socks and sandals are offending me, and it becomes your problem to modify your attire, not my problem to tolerate it.

Post by walshemj » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 4:03 PM UTC

ThomPete wrote: post #202

TulliusCicero wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If his memo had been exclusively about discrimination against conservatives, he wouldn't have been fired in the first place. The obvious reason Google fired him is that he was now poison in terms of working with others, especially women, because he was saying that women as a whole were either less suited or less inclined to be engineers.

Less inclined (which was what he said) can be tested factually are you saying that it's ok to be fired to state something factually correct?

Post by refulgentis » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 4:31 PM UTC

jules wrote: post #682

refulgentis wrote: post #398

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Was he?

That's your argument!

Post by pokemongoaway » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 4:41 PM UTC

jakelazaroff wrote: post #596

PricelessValue wrote: post #577

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> Then he started retweeting Breitbart articles and selling "Goolag" t-shirts and threw his credibility out the window What does that have to do with his credibility or his arguments? His arguments stand on its own merits. Externalities has no bearing on argument. If he said 1+1=2 and then retweeted a breitbart article, does that mean 1+1 no longer equal 2?

Given that Breitbart, Stephen Molynieux, etc, all basically support the least charitable interpretation of the memo (that women are genetically less predisposed to engineering), his active association with them makes the claim that the memo was a good-faith attempt to improve diversity rather hard to swallow. Examples: http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/08/14/haidt-google-memo-c... http://www.breitbart.com/big-govern…

Post by pokemongoaway » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 4:47 PM UTC

reader5000 wrote: post #604

rayiner wrote: post #522

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It's not just the history of computer science. Damore's essay was based on time-tested pseudo-scientific reasoning, the sort that has been invoked to exclude women in many different fields. When law firms offered Sandra Day O'Connor a secretarial job after she graduated third in her class at Stanford, do you think they said "we just don't like women?" Of course not. They couched their bias in appeals to the differenc…

There are more male programmers than female. Please explain how invoking genetic differences explanations is pseudo scientific, whereas invoking systematic discrimination explanations is not pseudo-scientific. Consider: There are more male rapists than female rapists. Is this because female rapists are systematically discriminated against? Does our society shamefully teach children that raping is only for boys? Or ar…