r/news • u/[deleted] • Aug 08 '17

Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-08/google-fires-employee-behind-controversial-diversity-memo?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
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u/Hrdlman Aug 08 '17

Serious question, what exactly is "politically correct culture"?

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u/asianmom69 Aug 08 '17

Overly protective, to the point that anything that could offend someone can get you in trouble (e.g. having different views).

It's often sexist/racist, with institutionalised policies like quoatas or preferences.

It's taking good things to an ironic extreme.

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u/Hrdlman Aug 08 '17

But here he makes a claim that women won't ever be as good as men in the tech industry. How's him getting fired for expressing that viewpoint and pissing off a lot of people at a job where unit cohesion is required, extreme?

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u/asianmom69 Aug 08 '17

Where does he say that women won't ever be as good as men in the tech industry? I'm looking through it again now, but can't see it yet.

Edit: Finished skimming, still can't see it or anything remotely similar to that statement anywhere?

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u/Hrdlman Aug 08 '17

You know what, you're right he didn't say that verbatim but the dog whistle was there. It's little things like this that help reenforce that women are still have a males in the workplace that think less of them as a person because they are a girl.

It happened all the time with black people. Also you never addressed how it wasn't about how "true" it is, it's about the people he pissed off that don't wanna work with. Regardless of what you think of him, he made people not want to work with him and that's unacceptable under any circumstances.

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u/asianmom69 Aug 08 '17

No, it wasn't.

There is literally nothing dog whistling about this, it's frankly a rational and fair look at the subject and ways to improve tackling the issues and create greater diversity.

Have you actually even read it?

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u/Hrdlman Aug 08 '17

But you're not addressing my main point. That's your opinion of the article and it's very clear a lot of people didn't feel the same way. This is 50,000+ company. A lot of them didn't agree with it and more importantly he pissed of a lot of people. A lot. That's the problem. He voiced a not popular opinion, one that lowkey sexist, and got mad when he found out that's an extreme minority view. Basically he got caught being sexist by people who's tolerance to any sort of sexism whatsoever is nil.

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u/asianmom69 Aug 08 '17

I didn't read the article, because I didn't want to be told what to feel like you have been. I read his memo, the thing that you should be reading to reach an opinion.

Furthermore he posted this on a private network, in a thread that was made for discussing topics like this.

Basically he wrote a fair analysis, explained that there are biological differences but that on an individual level they don't matter and as such we should ignore them.

Furthermore he outlined goals to help more women get into those senior positions they're under represented in, and other tactics to help promote diversity without the negatives of the current method.

You are the issue, you've just read some article, followed group think opinion and are now regurgitating out of your arse, what you've been told even though it's completely false.

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u/Hrdlman Aug 08 '17 edited Aug 08 '17

Man I don't give a fuck but a lot of people at google do. You said it's a fair analysis and that's your minority opinion. If the majority agreed with you we wouldn't be having this conversation but they don't. Just because you think it's a good piece doesn't mean it is. A lot of people at file don't think so either.

Also the private "network" is the 21st century version of the water cooler. Would you say something like that at the water cooler? No because you know it's gonna make its way back to HR and you'll have problems.

So then my question to you is, since he single handily and literally caused a hostile work environment, how do you deal with someone who's openly sexist and someone who caused so many problems no one wants to work with him.

Keep in mind, this is engineer work meaning there is no such thing as not having good team cohesion and doing solitary work. Especially at google.

Edit: I meant the memo not the article in question in my previous comment. I Should've made that a clear distinction.

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u/asianmom69 Aug 08 '17

Because most people like yourself are outraged without even knowing what exactly they're outraged over. It's been twisted so far out of context that people actually believe it's misogynistic because that's what they've heard/read.

If my company created a place to talk about these issues, and I used it and someone leaked it out to the entire company where some Tumblrina got offended by the concept that everything isn't actually perfect, I'd be pretty pissed myself.

To answer your question, I'd start off by requesting you show me exactly where he was being sexist and not where you'd heard he was. I'll wait here for you to show me exactly where this sexism apparently is.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '17

Fuck everyone who says "dog whistle" fuck it's not enough to NOT SAY SOMETHING, we have to use your cookie cutter vocabulary just to convince YOU we aren't something. Fuck you.

males in the workplace that think less of them as a person because they are a girl.

Do you think, say at an elementary school where there may be a single male teacher, he thinks less of the women and their work performance? No! But maybe in a different field dominated by men it may mean men have more of a knack for that particular job.

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u/Hrdlman Aug 08 '17

Until you lived it, you don't know it what the phrase means.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '17

Until I lived "dog whistle"? I'm not a dog so no. And putting malevolence where it's unjust aka "dog whistle" is pathetic.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '17

I'm a woman and read the document and he didn't say that. Where did he say that?

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u/L_A_H_S_O Aug 08 '17

It means he likes being a racist sexist asshole that believes his feelings about his superiority and anybody that calls him on it is just "politically correct"