Take some time to first read his memo at www.documentcloud.org/… It has already received the imprimatur of manifesto.
We’ll probably have endless fights of frisbee filling for the next few days. And perhaps we might even get a comment or two from Stephen Miller or even Agent Orange himself.
Probably lots of subtext to be revealed during his wrongful termination litigation.
It would be interesting to see how he handles his “support” from Breitbart and which Silicon Valley executives take up his “cause”, since he like those who claim to be libertarians, might claim that Google is the “Deep State” incarnate (it isn’t). Mr. Damore might even get to be touted as a victim of PC culture (he isn’t). It snows in Mountain View once every decade, if that.
At first glance, it would make a decent story arc for Silicon Valley, but IIRC, Mike Judge never takes on misogyny explicitly, even as he occasionally simply reflects the social divisions and stereotypes that make tech culture laughable. This does allow the integration of Proud Boy sensibility into their scripts, maybe HBO can do a mash-up of Confederate and Silicon Valley… a spin-off in Bakersfield
At second glance, considering Damore’s college background, he apparently didn’t respect his liberal arts requirement courses in terms of getting past a pastiche of the gender discourse curriculum since he parrots some very simplistic and stereotypic arguments in describing what as he admits might be phenomena particular to his specific work site. You would think someone with a doctoral degree in systems biology would understand generalizability, essentialism, and their critical discourse.
OTOH there does seem to be other issues involved, perhaps personality issues and interpersonal conflict in the workplace, but wait for the depositions.
It’s early days, but our discussion of this would be better once some folks do some better reporting than the initial and far too typical online banter.
Google has fired an employee who authored an internal memo, which leaked online, criticizing the tech giant’s diversity policies, Bloomberg reports.
James Damore attacked Google’s “politically correct monoculture” in the memo, which has been published online in full by Motherboard, which first reported on the document, and by Gizmodo.
“We are unequivocal in our belief that diversity and inclusion are critical to our success as a company,” Danielle Brown, Google’s Vice President of Diversity, Integrity & Governance, wrote in a memo responding to Damore’s document, Motherboard reports. “Part of building an open, inclusive environment means fostering a culture in which those with alternative views, including different political views, feel safe sharing their opinions. But that discourse needs to work alongside the principles of equal employment found in our Code of Conduct, policies, and anti-discrimination laws.”
(h/t i saw an old tree today)
Affirming our commitment to diversity and inclusion—and healthy debate
Googlers,
I’m Danielle, Google’s brand new VP of Diversity, Integrity & Governance. I started just a couple of weeks ago, and I had hoped to take another week or so to get the lay of the land before introducing myself to you all. But given the heated debate we’ve seen over the past few days, I feel compelled to say a few words.
Many of you have read an internal document shared by someone in our engineering organization, expressing views on the natural abilities and characteristics of different genders, as well as whether one can speak freely of these things at Google. And like many of you, I found that it advanced incorrect assumptions about gender. I'm not going to link to it here as it's not a viewpoint that I or this company endorses, promotes or encourages.
Diversity and inclusion are a fundamental part of our values and the culture we continue to cultivate. We are unequivocal in our belief that diversity and inclusion are critical to our success as a company, and we'll continue to stand for that and be committed to it for the long haul. As Ari Balogh said in his internal G+ post, “Building an open, inclusive environment is core to who we are, and the right thing to do. ‘Nuff said.”
Google has taken a strong stand on this issue, by releasing its demographic data and creating a company wide OKR on diversity and inclusion. Strong stands elicit strong reactions. Changing a culture is hard, and it's often uncomfortable. But I firmly believe Google is doing the right thing, and that's why I took this job.
Part of building an open, inclusive environment means fostering a culture in which those with alternative views, including different political views, feel safe sharing their opinions. But that discourse needs to work alongside the principles of equal employment found in our Code of Conduct, policies, and anti-discrimination laws.
I’ve been in the industry for a long time, and I can tell you that I’ve never worked at a company that has so many platforms for employees to express themselves — TGIF, Memegen, internal G+, thousands of discussion groups. I know this conversation doesn’t end with my email today. I look forward to continuing to hear your thoughts as I settle in and meet with Googlers across the company.
Thanks,
Danielle
Wednesday, Aug 9, 2017 · 1:32:02 AM +00:00
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annieli
But others–mainly right-wing groups–agreed with his description of a “politically correct monoculture” and in particular, saw Google’s decision to fire him for voicing an unpopular opinion as proving exactly his point. Julian Assange tweeted that WikiLeaks would hire Damore, adding “Censorship is for losers.” Gab.ai, a far-right social network, also offered Damore a job, calling his writing “a beautiful work of art.” Other supporters raised more than $5,000 on a crowdfunding campaign to help Damore fight his firing.