First of all, calling this a "screed" is nonsense and evidence that we, as a society, are seriously dumbing ourselves down. A screed is a "long speech or piece of writing, typically one regarded as tedious." This memo isn't long OR tedious. It's actually pretty breezy, with a few typos here and there. I just thoroughly read the whole thing (and Danielle Brown's response) in 26 minutes. A relatively modest investment of time on a worthwhile topic. Hundreds of thousands of people are sharing and commenting on this, making it viral, while only an extremely small sliver of those people (~1%???) are really reading it. More. People. Need. To. Actually. Read.
Having said all of that - I can't believe that Google fired this guy! I don't agree with every point, but I do see this as an interesting new angle into further meaningful conversation -- at the very least. At best, it offers some actionable opportunities for Google to improve. In elite & liberal arts colleges across the country, we train people to think and write this way, to organize thoughts and ideas (especially controversial ones!) and to communicate them clearly & thoughtfully. Especially to people in positions of power.
Men and women are different in some ways. That sentence is problematic. And interesting. And something that should be discussed openly.
The biggest issue in tech isn't that privileged white people can't say things freely. However, this could have been an interesting learning moment. Across the board, we need better & more open communication. Sundar Pichai and Danielle Brown dropped the ball. Rather than firing someone for speaking truth, they should encourage others to do the same. That requires courage.
I'm also disappointed that Google fired James Damore (the guy who wrote the memo). He'll probably now go work for...Uber! Sorry, bad joke.
If we are talking about the intentionality of an action, it seems like Damore did everything he could to make his point and not sound like a crazy person while doing it. Why couldn't Google continue this conversation with this guy in a public forum? Or if not an open one, then at least a closed one within the Google industrial complex. Talking about gender or race is never easy, but if we don't talk about it, it'll just get worse...
But of course, if you look at this from the bosses' points of view, you can see why they fired the guy. Damore had the balls to speak about this, but obviously his bosses clearly do not. They are choosing to toe the line of "sensitivity," because if they don't, the media firestorm they'll be facing would be tremendous.
Making Damore a villain seems unfair, his opinions should have been discussed and debated. I believe he is a causality of the ultra-liberal mind-set which is becoming very closed minded and intolerable of conflicting thoughts. I, as a liberal, often get the 'stink eye' when I do not agree with some ultra-liberal view points.
In my opinion, ultra- liberalism is damaging to the greater cause.
Talking about gender or race is never easy, but if we don't talk about it, it'll just get worse...
Yes! Isn't that, like, the only golden rule? I'm genuinely baffled about the way this guy is getting beat up in the media right now. I read and commented before reading any commentary and am glad I did. I'm trying to do that more often from now on!
The title is totally insane. I find it hard to believe that the Gizmodo reporter actually read the whole thing. The author of the Google paper clearly stated that he values diversity in the workplace but is against hiring practices and company programs that discriminate based on race and gender. How that could honestly be misconstrued as being "anti-diversity" is beyond me.
The Gizmodo article also left out all the paper's citations and a key illustration meant to highlight what I feel was one of the most important points the author was trying to make. I'll post a top-level comment with a link to the PDF for anyone that is interested.
I agree with most of what you said in your comment save for a few points:
Men and women are different in some ways. That sentence is problematic.
I couldn't disagree with the latter statement more. How is it problematic?
The biggest issue in tech isn't that privileged white people can't say things freely.
This statement is disrespectful to and dismissive of all non-white conservatives. The entire point of the paper is that there is a lack of ideological diversity at Google. Every person is free to develop their own moral and political viewpoints regardless of their race, gender or other natural identity. The Google employee felt silenced in the workplace and was fired because of his conservative viewpoint, not because he was white.
It is intimating, very difficult to agree with this in public but hard to dismiss many of the points made. I am going to take the cowards approach and stay on the sidelines on this one.
I will say, he should not have been fired. Donald Trump's political connection to many voters may be a backlash of 'ultra-political correctness fatigue' ... It is exhausting at times.
This is a crazy situation.
First of all, calling this a "screed" is nonsense and evidence that we, as a society, are seriously dumbing ourselves down. A screed is a "long speech or piece of writing, typically one regarded as tedious." This memo isn't long OR tedious. It's actually pretty breezy, with a few typos here and there. I just thoroughly read the whole thing (and Danielle Brown's response) in 26 minutes. A relatively modest investment of time on a worthwhile topic. Hundreds of thousands of people are sharing and commenting on this, making it viral, while only an extremely small sliver of those people (~1%???) are really reading it. More. People. Need. To. Actually. Read.
Having said all of that - I can't believe that Google fired this guy! I don't agree with every point, but I do see this as an interesting new angle into further meaningful conversation -- at the very least. At best, it offers some actionable opportunities for Google to improve. In elite & liberal arts colleges across the country, we train people to think and write this way, to organize thoughts and ideas (especially controversial ones!) and to communicate them clearly & thoughtfully. Especially to people in positions of power.
Men and women are different in some ways. That sentence is problematic. And interesting. And something that should be discussed openly.
The biggest issue in tech isn't that privileged white people can't say things freely. However, this could have been an interesting learning moment. Across the board, we need better & more open communication. Sundar Pichai and Danielle Brown dropped the ball. Rather than firing someone for speaking truth, they should encourage others to do the same. That requires courage.
I'm also disappointed that Google fired James Damore (the guy who wrote the memo). He'll probably now go work for...Uber! Sorry, bad joke.
If we are talking about the intentionality of an action, it seems like Damore did everything he could to make his point and not sound like a crazy person while doing it. Why couldn't Google continue this conversation with this guy in a public forum? Or if not an open one, then at least a closed one within the Google industrial complex. Talking about gender or race is never easy, but if we don't talk about it, it'll just get worse...
But of course, if you look at this from the bosses' points of view, you can see why they fired the guy. Damore had the balls to speak about this, but obviously his bosses clearly do not. They are choosing to toe the line of "sensitivity," because if they don't, the media firestorm they'll be facing would be tremendous.
Making Damore a villain seems unfair, his opinions should have been discussed and debated. I believe he is a causality of the ultra-liberal mind-set which is becoming very closed minded and intolerable of conflicting thoughts. I, as a liberal, often get the 'stink eye' when I do not agree with some ultra-liberal view points.
In my opinion, ultra- liberalism is damaging to the greater cause.
Yes! Isn't that, like, the only golden rule? I'm genuinely baffled about the way this guy is getting beat up in the media right now. I read and commented before reading any commentary and am glad I did. I'm trying to do that more often from now on!
The title is totally insane. I find it hard to believe that the Gizmodo reporter actually read the whole thing. The author of the Google paper clearly stated that he values diversity in the workplace but is against hiring practices and company programs that discriminate based on race and gender. How that could honestly be misconstrued as being "anti-diversity" is beyond me.
The Gizmodo article also left out all the paper's citations and a key illustration meant to highlight what I feel was one of the most important points the author was trying to make. I'll post a top-level comment with a link to the PDF for anyone that is interested.
I agree with most of what you said in your comment save for a few points:
I couldn't disagree with the latter statement more. How is it problematic?
This statement is disrespectful to and dismissive of all non-white conservatives. The entire point of the paper is that there is a lack of ideological diversity at Google. Every person is free to develop their own moral and political viewpoints regardless of their race, gender or other natural identity. The Google employee felt silenced in the workplace and was fired because of his conservative viewpoint, not because he was white.
Link to the full PDF which includes missing citations and illustration: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3914586/Googles-Ideological-Echo-Chamber.pdf
It is intimating, very difficult to agree with this in public but hard to dismiss many of the points made. I am going to take the cowards approach and stay on the sidelines on this one.
I will say, he should not have been fired. Donald Trump's political connection to many voters may be a backlash of 'ultra-political correctness fatigue' ... It is exhausting at times.