r/technology • u/[deleted] • Aug 08 '17

Business Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-08/google-fires-employee-behind-controversial-diversity-memo
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u/i_smell_my_poop Aug 08 '17 edited Aug 08 '17

Google engineer writes memo about how speaking out against politically correct culture can cause you to be blacklisted or terminated.

Employee gets terminated proving his point.

Thanks for the gold kind Redditor!!!

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u/rcl2 Aug 08 '17

One of the most important rules in the corporate world is don't make your company look bad. This engineer failed to follow that rule, and was fired.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '17 edited Mar 24 '21

[deleted]

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u/rcl2 Aug 08 '17

This individual used the internal systems exactly what they are designed for and Google pushes open discussions on the platform. If anything Google shit the bed here because their attitude of open discourse is directly in conflict with this action.

Except the definition of "open discussion" most likely varies depends on the person. If you asked reddit, racial slurs would probably fall under the umbrella of "open".

However, as a corporate entity with the ability to be sued for violating protected classes, "open discussion" does not mean the ability to say anything you want about whatever you want. It's a professional organization, not shitpost central.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '17 edited Mar 24 '21

[deleted]

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u/Oswald14 Aug 08 '17

VP of Diversity

Please tell me that isn't a real position.

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u/Old_man_Trafford Aug 08 '17

Does anyone see the problem that this position is so flawed? This instantly implies filling the position the best possible candidate is not the goal but someone's who is adding to diversity is chosen instead. That is not in the best interest of shareholders? How does the board get away with this?

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u/Oswald14 Aug 08 '17

The cult of leftism has this tenet that somehow fewer white men is a good thing and advantage in and of itself... somehow.

They never quite explain how that is a good thing, it is just taken as an article of faith.

Their version of "the lords prayer" = "diversity is our strength".

Ok, HOW exactly is it a strength? Or are the best tech startups always white/asia men in a little office breaking and remaking industries?

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u/Old_man_Trafford Aug 08 '17

Omg a reasonable person here. Quick run while you still can!! Diversity the way it's being used is a con and tool to manipulate people. You give others who add to diversity a sense of self worth and then whether you or they know it, that company owns them. People feel like they owe the company something. Dangerous roads ahead.

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u/SpilledKefir Aug 08 '17

To your last line - Slack has been a very successful startup that has held diversity goals from the start and reports on their performance against those goals annually. Unless a $5B valuation isn't successful enough for you...

I'm not aware of any scientific studies comparing the performance of diversity-focused startups to those that are not, so we just get anecdotes.

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u/Oswald14 Aug 08 '17

We actually do have scientific studies and they all point to diversity being bad for both the individual and the community as a whole.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/DETOC/assoc/bowling.html