One less white male on the team, diversity needle is moving in the right direction.
Yes because we should hire people based off the colour of their skin or current gender status!
Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
41–50 of 1001 posts
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#42Good. I get that HN is not into this, but this employee stated, bluntly, that they don't believe many of their colleagues should be there because of their sex. Every peer review, every no-hire, every interaction , is and should be suspect. Happy where I am now, but future interviews will include me asking what management would do about this, and termination is the only correct answer. This is textbook hostile environ…
I see nothing of the sort in his original document. Could you add some quotes to back up your claim?
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#43Good. I get that HN is not into this, but this employee stated, bluntly, that they don't believe many of their colleagues should be there because of their sex. Every peer review, every no-hire, every interaction , is and should be suspect. Happy where I am now, but future interviews will include me asking what management would do about this, and termination is the only correct answer. This is textbook hostile environ…
> this employee stated, bluntly, that they don't believe many of their colleagues should be there because of their sex
Did you read the essay? He certainly did not make that claim. Population averages are not statements about individuals. This is pure censorship.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#44I 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.
On a related note, what does "internal memo" mean here? Did he forward this to a few coworkers who spread it or cc the whole company or what?
Stories say it was intentionally spread in large public forums.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#45I 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.
No it's not a problem. I didn't have a negative opinion of it because of the content (which contained no new or interesting ideas by the way). I had a negative opinion of it because someone out there believed that you could just shout out your controversial beliefs in a group email and expect something positive to come from it.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#46An excellent opportunity to re-read PG's essay, "What You Can't Say". [1] "What scares me is that there are moral fashions too. They're just as arbitrary, and just as invisible to most people. But they're much more dangerous. Fashion is mistaken for good design; moral fashion is mistaken for good. Dressing oddly gets you laughed at. Violating moral fashions can get you fired, ostracized, imprisoned, or even killed."…
This isn't an issue of "fashion" or "opinion". It's an issue of whether the guy is right or wrong, and if he's wrong[1] whether or not he's caused damage to his employer[2], and if that is true whether it is a firing offense[3].
You don't get to avoid discussion[4] about those subtitled points by retreating to some kind of invented safe space here. Out with it. Is he right?
[1] He is.
[2] He has.
[3] It is.
[4] Yeah, I'm just asserting without evidence too. But only to avoid the pointless flames that result.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#47Good. I get that HN is not into this, but this employee stated, bluntly, that they don't believe many of their colleagues should be there because of their sex. Every peer review, every no-hire, every interaction , is and should be suspect. Happy where I am now, but future interviews will include me asking what management would do about this, and termination is the only correct answer. This is textbook hostile environ…
I did not get that meaning from reading the memo. And I really don't understand how anyone could. Could you point out the part in the memo where he stated bluntly that many of his colleagues shouldn't be there because of their sex?
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#48Fun 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.
No, it will be very easy. Don't mention his training in any articles, and 95%+ of the readership will not look into his qualifications or training.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#49This is starting to be scary. Instead of government companies are acting as thought police. I think a lot of people will watch what they are saying publicly from now on.
All Googleers .. need to watch what they say, watch what they do. - paraphrasing Ari Fleischer, Bush's press secretary, after 9/11.
Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo
#50Not a lawyer, but will he have a case to sue for wrongful termination? I guess without seeing the employee contract and Code of Conduct, it is hard to say.
California is an At-Will state. Unless he is a protected class, he can be fired for any reason or no reason.
So are you saying if he were a woman or minority it'd have been easier to get hired and he'd have a stronger wrongful termination suit?