- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
WSJ Feature Essay: Why I was fired from google. - James Damore
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:11 pm
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:11 pm
quote:
I was fired by Google this past Monday for a document that I wrote and circulated internally raising questions about cultural taboos and how they cloud our thinking about gender diversity at the company and in the wider tech sector. I suggested that at least some of the male-female disparity in tech could be attributed to biological differences (and, yes, I said that bias against women was a factor too). Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai declared that portions of my statement violated the company’s code of conduct and “cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.”
My 10-page document set out what I considered a reasoned, well-researched, good-faith argument, but as I wrote, the viewpoint I was putting forward is generally suppressed at Google because of the company’s “ideological echo chamber.” My firing neatly confirms that point. How did Google, the company that hires the smartest people in the world, become so ideologically driven and intolerant of scientific debate and reasoned argument?
We all have moral preferences and beliefs about how the world is and should be. Having these views challenged can be painful, so we tend to avoid people with differing values and to associate with those who share our values. This self-segregation has become much more potent in recent decades. We are more mobile and can sort ourselves into different communities; we wait longer to find and choose just the right mate; and we spend much of our time in a digital world personalized to fit our views.
Google is a particularly intense echo chamber because it is in the middle of Silicon Valley and is so life-encompassing as a place to work. With free food, internal meme boards and weekly companywide meetings, Google becomes a huge part of its employees’ lives. Some even live on campus. For many, including myself, working at Google is a major part of their identity, almost like a cult with its own leaders and saints, all believed to righteously uphold the sacred motto of “Don’t be evil.”
Echo chambers maintain themselves by creating a shared spirit and keeping discussion confined within certain limits. As Noam Chomsky once observed, “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.”
But echo chambers also have to guard against dissent and opposition. Whether it’s in our homes, online or in our workplaces, a consensus is maintained by shaming people into conformity or excommunicating them if they persist in violating taboos. Public shaming serves not only to display the virtue of those doing the shaming but also warns others that the same punishment awaits them if they don’t conform.
In my document, I committed heresy against the Google creed by stating that not all disparities between men and women that we see in the world are the result of discriminatory treatment. When I first circulated the document about a month ago to our diversity groups and individuals at Google, there was no outcry or charge of misogyny. I engaged in reasoned discussion with some of my peers on these issues, but mostly I was ignored.
Everything changed when the document went viral within the company and the wider tech world. Those most zealously committed to the diversity creed—that all differences in outcome are due to differential treatment and all people are inherently the same—could not let this public offense go unpunished. They sent angry emails to Google’s human-resources department and everyone up my management chain, demanding censorship, retaliation and atonement.
Upper management tried to placate this surge of outrage by shaming me and misrepresenting my document, but they couldn’t really do otherwise: The mob would have set upon anyone who openly agreed with me or even tolerated my views. When the whole episode finally became a giant media controversy, thanks to external leaks, Google had to solve the problem caused by my supposedly sexist, anti-diversity manifesto, and the whole company came under heated and sometimes threatening scrutiny.
It saddens me to leave Google and to see the company silence open and honest discussion. If Google continues to ignore the very real issues raised by its diversity policies and corporate culture, it will be walking blind into the future—unable to meet the needs of its remarkable employees and sure to disappoint its billions of users.
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:16 pm to Samso
quote:Because like all good liberals, they let emotion and "social justice" get in the way of reason and common sense.
How did Google, the company that hires the smartest people in the world, become so ideologically driven and intolerant of scientific debate and reasoned argument?
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:16 pm to Samso
If you're an employee and you do something your employer doesn't like and makes the company look bad, you get fired. Sounds like a typical situation.
It's the same reason Kaepernick isn't gonna get a job this year.
It's the same reason Kaepernick isn't gonna get a job this year.
This post was edited on 8/11/17 at 3:18 pm
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:25 pm to AggieDub14
Did you read his whole response. Sounds like the memo was part of a peer discussion group that got leaked to the greater company that later got leaked to the general public.
I can agree with your response that big he intentionally wrote the letter to make his company look bad. Then fire him. If this letter was part of a peer group discussion that got bent and twisted to convey ideas not intended then that's a different story all together.
I can agree with your response that big he intentionally wrote the letter to make his company look bad. Then fire him. If this letter was part of a peer group discussion that got bent and twisted to convey ideas not intended then that's a different story all together.
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:29 pm to tigeraddict
Intentions aren't always what's important. Perception is reality.
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:31 pm to AggieDub14
quote:this should literally be the liberal motto. A 100% emotion-based point of View. You people are pathetic
Intentions aren't always what's important. Perception is reality.
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:32 pm to ShortyRob
Dude, that's just life. What you intend doesn't always matter. How others perceive it is what matters. That is especially true in the workplace.
This post was edited on 8/11/17 at 3:33 pm
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:34 pm to AggieDub14
quote:His argument was not without merit, and I can't blame him if his frustration caused him to make Google look worse than it has to be.
If you're an employee and you do something your employer doesn't like and makes the company look bad, you get fired. Sounds like a typical situation.
At the time same time, and I can't help but wonder if he didn't hope (or just accept) that the way he presented it would force Google to fire him--making his argument seem even more valid, making it even more controversial, and allowing it to remain relevant. Maybe it was necessary, but he also gained a lot from a firing, which is usually not a good thing.
At the same time, change sometimes requires controversy. But it's a fine line between change and ineffective conflict.
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:35 pm to AggieDub14
I don't think anyone is saying he couldn't be fired. The point is Google has shown itself to be blatantly hypocritical in its claims that it encourages free and open discussions among its employees. You have more ideological diversity at the Southern Baptist Convention than you do at Google.
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:38 pm to AggieDub14
quote:I'm aware that this is the bullshite that liberals have foisted on us for the last 20 years. That doesn't make it not bullshite. It just makes liberals pathetic pieces of shite who think the world revolves around their feelings. But at least Liberals are it out in the open now and admitting that they were always Liars when they said they valued tolerance
ude, that's just life. What you intend doesn't always matter. How others perceive it is what matters
All you really are is a bunch of rhetorical fascist who eventually will have to be dealt with
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:39 pm to ShortyRob
quote:I actually think it's the left that focuses too much on intentions, especially since they are often almost impossible to determine, but then that makes it also a basis in perceptions too.
this should literally be the liberal motto. A 100% emotion-based point of View. You people are pathetic
Bernie seems to get a lot of support because he's good at presenting his intent to be well-meaning. But that may just be a perception he wants people to accept.
But at the end of the day, who cares if Bernie's intentions are pure or not of his ideas are objectively harmful?
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:39 pm to SCLibertarian
quote:you have more diversity of thought there then you have at any Congregation of liberals anywhere. Liberals make fundamentalist Christians seem like bastions of Tolerance
. You have more ideological diversity at the Southern Baptist Convention than you do at Google
This post was edited on 8/11/17 at 3:41 pm
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:40 pm to buckeye_vol
quote:exactly. Objectivity doesn't give a shite about intentions or perceptions and words are never harmful except to pussies
But at the end of the day, who cares if Bernie's intentions are pure or not of his ideas are objectively harmful?
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:42 pm to AggieDub14
It's not as easy as saying, "private corporation, their right to fire him."
While I recognize their legal right, big corporations have very complicated employee rights programs. If they violated any of those, then they have opened themselves up to lawsuit. If they didn't, then tough for this guy.
It is not comparable to the Kaepernick situation. He was not fired, or even disciplined. He was simply not hired by other teams when he opted out of his contract by his own choice.
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:44 pm to Bjorn Cyborg
quote:
It's not as easy as saying, "private corporation, their right to fire him
It would be if it were universally true
But the government protects SOME people from this reality which means that effectively, you have government sanctioned oppression
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:44 pm to AggieDub14
quote:
It's the same reason Kaepernick isn't gonna get a job this year.
Did you actually read his memo? He stated facts about the differences between genders and how they affect their correlating work place decisions on a company wide internet platform created by the company FOR THAT VERY REASON. Damore actually advocated for hiring more woman. But I guess facts are sexist and racist now too.
Colin Kaepernick averaged 186 yards a game passing last season (which ranked dead last in the NFL) and he protested something that was already taking place. His stance had nothing to do with making his team or employer better. His talents do not exceed his problems.
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:46 pm to AggieDub14
quote:Nah. I'd say it's very likely the company actively solicits memos like this in the spirit of supposedly open dialogue. The people it was intended for didn't bat an eyelash. This only exploded because of typical SJW bullshite. I didn't even have to read the memo to know that it wasn't going to be even marginally offensive. I guarantee my wife would agree with 90% of what he said.
If you're an employee and you do something your employer doesn't like and makes the company look bad, you get fired. Sounds like a typical situation.
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:49 pm to Big Scrub TX
quote:
my wife
I kid, kid
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:50 pm to Big Scrub TX
And since the dude was first he is way better off now anyway
Be the next guy 2 months from now and it is old hat and he is fired with no pub
Be the next guy 2 months from now and it is old hat and he is fired with no pub
Posted on 8/11/17 at 3:50 pm to AggieDub14
quote:So you've still not read the document?
and makes the company look bad
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News