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Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

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Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#4
Corpos naturally have split personalities, but it wasn't "Google's plan". Mid-level people proposed it and high-level people blocked it.

What's not often said clearly is that corpos don't want social justice which might come at the cost of rancor, they want "DEI PR" that they can charge to the marketing budget.

In other words, they want the low-hanging fruit they can get by having recruiters source employees from more places, and artists and photographers draw multicolored graphics, and asking people to be less cruel when all other tradeoffs are neutral,and if that makes the world more fair, that's great.

But they management won't allow anything that risks disrupting the moneymaking operations, regardless of long term potential benefits (which almost certainly don't exist -- racism exists because it works, locally, for economic and social benefits, not because people are moustache-twirling comic-book supervillains).

This is why free markets alone can't solve injustice, and broader social movements are the tool that works.

Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#7
This is likely an example why it may not always be a great idea to discuss politics at work. I know a lot of us have strong personal opinions on a lot of subjects, but making sure everyone on my team aligns with my beliefs is likely not conducive to teamwork. Quite the opposite.

If I was not an IC now, I would definitely be trying to cut discussions like that in a bud.

Re: Google cancelled a talk on caste bias

#10
Do we need every mega-corporation to weigh in on every social issue globally? The thing I like most about work is that its a relatively diverse group of people working together on shared goal. People have known for a long time that work should be professional and you should avoid politics and religion. But I guess people have to relearn these lessons every few decades.
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