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Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

businessinsider.com

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Re: Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

#361

Post by strken »

bern4444 wrote: post #174
Redoubts wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it’s really strange… You don’t think there’s anything about it’s recent creation that makes this a special case?

Italy just celebrated the founding of its republic, which was in 1946...

Italy was unified back in the 1800s, so this is stretching the truth a little. It existed as a kingdom well before becoming a republic.

It also has a surprisingly long list of separatist movements[0], which it has has thus far refrained from bombing with US-funded F16s.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_separatist_move...

Re: Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

#362

Post by nso »

donatj wrote: post #55

What I have learned in recent years is how shockingly accepting of antisemitism people apparently are on both sides of aisle. Growing up in a prominently Jewish neighborhood in Minnesota I never really encountered it until maybe ten years ago. The fact that he was just shifted rather than fired in this political environment speaks volumes.

Reading his blog post it seems to me like he is commenting on Israeli state politics and the extremists within its borders rather than "any" jew. Yes he uses the word jew in a general way, which of course is unfortunate as Israel does not solely consist of jewish people.

His points are presented without hyperboles, and while they certainly do not paint Israels state politics in a good light, how is this anti semitism (which in wikipedia is defined as "hostility to, prejudice, or discrimination against Jews")?

Antisemitism is of course as inexcusable as any other form of racism, but criticism of a country's or groups political views and policies is not hate nor discrimination.

In my opinion his removal is an overreaction, but with how polarizing this subject I don't see how it could have gone any other way.

Re: Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

#363

Post by lacksconfidence »

throwusawayus wrote: post #277
lacksconfidence wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Replace jew with 'israeli' in every occurance. Who's fault is it that israel intentionally tried to muddy the water and make the word confusing? I don't see any anti-semitism here. I see here concern that israel does not care about the humanity of their neighbors.

I'm Jewish, and I personally found the post to be offensive and anti-semitic. Israel is not my "homeland". I've never been to Israel, let alone lived there. My parents have never been to Israel. You'd have to go back over 2000 years to find an ancestor of mine who lived in Israel. I have no connection whatsoever with the actions of the Israeli government. So if you attribute their actions to me, simply because I am J…

Thanks for the commentary, it's a useful perspective. Perhaps it depends on many things, but i feel like this post is not attributing these actions to you, in any way. My reading of the actual actions being criticised in that there is no way the author could mean anything other than the jewish state of israel. Working backwards from there, it's clear to me that any reference to jew is simply because AIPAC and western media in general have spent the last ~50 years blurring the discourse to the point where Jew ~= Israeli.

Re: Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

#364

Post by antisemtexism »

kenjackson wrote: post #24
Tomte wrote: post #3

> Instead of firing him, though, Google is moving Bobb into a STEM-focused role. That's surprising, but I think it's good. He's obviously not viable in the diversity role, but there's no reason to go ballistic over a 15 year old blog post.

I don’t know. I’m not Jewish, but I’d have trouble working with someone with views like that. I guess if they were extremely contrite and enough time had passed since they had said it (and no other incident since then).

Sounds like you're the one with the problem then. He barely said anything offensive, just misspoke - if you look at the full blog post text, the intent is clear.

Re: Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

#365

Post by cjohnson318 »

whimsicalism wrote: post #330
cjohnson318 wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> women's innate biological tendency towards neuroticism What the actual... Are you serious right now? Men kill women and other men at much, much higher rates than women kill men or other women. What does that say about the the "innate biological tendencies" of men?

Of course not. I was seeing how far people would go with Damore, and it really saddens me how much my comment was upvoted. People here are the type of people I work with... they all hold these views? Of course, now that I've clarified, I expect the Damore-types to downvoted my comment, it peaked at +5.

Jfc. You had me there. I need to calm down and get back to work. This whole thread is way too much.

Re: Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

#366

Post by ebin1 »

koheripbal wrote: post #353

His bigotry goes beyond anti-semitism. Kamau Bobb's blog posts were almost exclusively about White and Jewish people, as a whole, and their mistreatment of Black Americans both historically and today. He even targets progressive white people for their more unspoken racism. There is a very obvious tone of distaste for white and Jewish people in his posts. Search for the word "white" or "Jew" in his blog [1] posts to s…

Do note that the issue, in the media reporting of the incident, mentions and highlights one and not the other.

Re: Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

#367

Post by geodel »

rightorwrong128 wrote: post #47

I really can't tell if this is right or wrong. On one hand, these comments are hurtful and obviously stupid. On the other hand, this post is 13 years old. We all say or think stupid things sometimes, especially when we're naive about a topic. Isn't it possible his stance has changed? All this publicity now may have ruined this guy's career forever, all because the scribbled down some random stupid thoughts more than…

> All this publicity now may have ruined this guy's career forever,

You do seem to live in extremely polite and enlightened world where just a transfer is ruining career. Out in real world today one would have their ass out of job instead of mild reprimand for such blog post.

Re: Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

#368

Post by kbelder »

tolbish wrote: post #272
sanity31415 wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They fired Damore for writing an email that was tone-deaf, insensitive, but largely supported by research Damore was asked for his feedback on Google's diversity policies, and that's exactly what he provided. Most of Damore's critics haven't actually read his memo[1], but rather formed an opinion based on the character assassination campaign against him, a campaign his employer publicly sided with. Over the 4 years…

People take issue with the following, but I don't recall Google confirming/denying if it is true: I strongly believe in gender and racial diversity, and I think we should strive for more. However, to achieve a more equal gender and race representation, Google has created several discriminatory practices: ● Programs, mentoring, and classes only for people with a certain gender or race ● A high priority queue and speci…

I don't get it. He's pointing out five problems with Google's efforts. I don't know whether they're correct or not, but I don't see anything here to criticize. If these are true, and they seem plausible, they do need to be fixed.

Re: Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

#369

Post by michaelscott »

GrinningFool wrote: post #295
lgleason wrote: post #247

Live by the sword, die by the sword. That said, firing him, like they did with Damore would have been more consistent. Because everyone is under arbitration agreements that always benefit the company, vs the courts where you might have a shot at justice, they have no incentive to do that. As repugnant as his past anti-semitic rant was, people change and sometimes say and do stupid things. In a sane world this guy wou…

> but today it is all about getting scalps, You say "today" as if it's ever been any different. Has it?

In terms of getting people fired/removed/cancelled for remarks, yes absolutely. That may be a function of social media and the scale of communication in modern times, but either way the sensitivity of the vocal minority has definitely changed even in my relatively short life.

Re: Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

#370

Post by sangnoir »

BTCOG wrote: post #344

What I find most absurd in all of this is the utter stupidity of beliefs in entirely man made fairytales that have been causing nonstop wars for the past few thousand years. Maybe eventually, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, and any other gullible belief systems in fake sky people, written by total nutcases 1k+ years ago and miraculously still followed today, will end. Believing that you're somehow superior t…

> Abolish religion, and you free the people to the reality of the universe.

You'd be better off abolishing politics/politicians[1]: religion is but one way of "othering". Religion/sectarianism is only a hot-button issue because it serves hard-liner politicians well on both sides of any conflict/blood-feud

1. Good luck with that! Especially when politicians make the laws.

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