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Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

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Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

#551

Post by Grue3 »

escape_goat wrote: post #203

The best explanation of why he was going to be fired and why that was the right thing to do (that I read) came from Yonatan Zunger, who had recently left a Human Resources position at Google; especially his third point, in the following post on Medium: https://medium.com/@yonatanzunger/so-about-this-googlers-man... In many way, it was not an unfamiliar sort of rant for the internet, and I was struck by the author's e…

That medium post is exactly why dudebro Silicon Valley culture persists. It's all about "cooperation", "collaboration", "empathy" for your "peers" for these people. Which means if you're different from your "peers" (i.e. rich white liberal cis males) you're not a "cultural fit". If you don't drink beer all Friday with your "team" and then go to a strip club for some "teambuilding", you're not a team player. Which means you're a "bad engineer". Is it any wonder there's no diversity?

Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

#552

Post by [deleted] »

RealityNow wrote: post #290

It's incredibly ironic that a company that apparently cares about diversity enough to have a "Vice President for Diversity" fired an employee for presenting an opposing viewpoint - to their diversity policy of all things. Further evidence that Google and the other large institutions don't actually give a rat's ass about "diversity". Diversity has absolutely nothing to do with diversity of thought, and is only concern…

[deleted]

Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

#553

Post by imartin2k »

wildmusings wrote: post #35

The author's arguments have been completely misrepresented. He pointed out widely-believed and sometimes scientifically-established differences in the DISTRIBUTION OF traits in men and women. He said that those differences make attempts to achieve numerical parity misguided, discriminatory, and harmful. What is his conclusion about how we should behave? "Treat people as individuals, not as just another member of thei…

"A particular brand of liberalism has reached the point of being a religion, and the establishment is running an inquisition against any who dare to question its points of dogma."

Indeed. I also felt reminded of dynamics in the realm of religion.

Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

#554

Post by mr_spothawk »

HD134606c wrote: post #206

We haven't seen anything yet. What we're witnessing is the transition from capitalism to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and things like this termination are an obvious milestone. That may sound like a bold claim but let me explain. Allow me to back up a little bit. First off some context: a lot of people don't realize it but we are a lot closer to a post-scarcity world than the world would have you think. Check out…

side note: I recommend that anybody who's headed for Burning Man read Brave New World before you go.

poly + molly + endless disposable entertainment ... it's hard to come to grips with, and incredibly scary.

Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

#555

Post by eagsalazar2 »

Google really blew it. Just look at this conversation, normally happy and polite HN is barely restraining itself only because of fear of being hell banned and this is a tiny watered down version of the outrage they have unleashed nation wide.

Had they just (as they should ethically have done) privately let the guy know "hey uh, independent of whether we agree with you, can you please cool it because this is USA, Bay Area 2017 and you just can't say shit like that" then just waited out the controversy, this would have all been dead and gone by next week. Now it has turned into all out rage fest on both sides.

Franky I see this as one Google's biggest screw ups. The worst anyone can say about his "scree" (give me a break) is that the guy was wrong and suffers from unconscious biases. Otherwise he was fairly civil and for this he is publicly and viciously crucified and demonized then thrown under a bus by Google. The butt-hurt right is going to have a never ending field day with this. It will be Benghazi of white male boo-hooing for the next 10 years.

Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

#556

Post by vcjohnson »

kevingadd wrote: post #256
sna1l wrote: post #156

Does anyone know first hand if any employees agreed with the sentiment in this memo? Shouldn't they be let go as well?

Holding an opinion isn't a firing offense. The firing offense is violating the agreements he signed as an employee (the most obvious poor decision here being the choice to post his manifesto on corporate services using corporate equipment).

>the most obvious poor decision here being the choice to post his manifesto on corporate services using corporate equipment

Why is this a violation? Not trying to be argumentative, actually just curious. Seems like putting personal thoughts on company Google Docs would be a questionable decision for privacy concerns, but not a violation.

Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

#557

Post by mirimir »

Could someone please explain to me why this man didn't publish the article anonymously? Critics point to undeniable workplace disruption that it's caused. This isn't a free-speech issue. It's a public challenge to management. And that's generally a bad move.

Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

#558

Post by topmonk »

zorpner wrote: post #25

Good. 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…

When you engage in discriminatory hiring as a matter of policy, so called "affirmative action", you will invite people to judge those that are advantaged by that policy.

The people who decided to implement this braindead idea are at fault for this. Not the guy who decided to voice what everyone else was thinking.

Re: Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

#559

Post by [deleted] »

peacetreefrog wrote: post #308

It's crazy to see such overtly anti free speech arguments in the discussion around this memo, even on Hacker News. "Well actually, the first amendment only protects against government intruding on free speech, it doesn't apply to the rest of us!" Free speech used to be the thing everyone agreed on. It's like a fundamental tenant of Western, liberal democracy has gone out of vogue.

[deleted]
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