Google Burns a Heretic

 

James Damore is fortunate that we don’t burn heretics at the stake, because he has blasphemed.

The fired Google engineer might as well have been writing a script designed to prove that one of the world’s largest companies embodies every left-wing stereotype imaginable — blinkered, intolerant, and authoritarian. Damore’s memo alleged that one problem with Google’s corporate culture is that people feel “shamed into silence” on important questions and, bam, they fired him. Hollywood might have rejected such a script on the grounds that Google would never do something that so confirms people’s suspicions about the left. These are supposed to be the smartest people, right?

Damore told the truth. This is not to endorse every word of his memo, but he was completely right that the subject of innate differences between men and women has become taboo. He pointed out, fairly, that whereas some on the right reject science on questions of climate change and evolution, some (many?) on the left resist science on issues of biological differences between men and women. Among left-leaning intellectuals, and that includes the types who run Google, it is not only assumed that all observed differences in traits, interests, and choices between the sexes are the result of oppression (or “socially constructed”), but it is heresy to question this view.

Left-wing outlets like Vox have labelled Damore’s memo a “sexist screed,” and Danielle Brown, Google’s vice-president for “diversity, integrity, and governance” issued a statement declining even to link to the memo because “it advanced incorrect assumptions about gender . . . and it’s not a viewpoint that I or this company endorses, promotes, or encourages.” That doesn’t quite capture it. Google suppresses dissent, just as the memo warned. Orwell lives.

So what did he say that was so intolerable? Did he say women aren’t smart? Did he say that women should not be recruited to work at Google? Hardly. He offered that perhaps biological differences between the sexes may partially account for the fact that women are not 50 percent of the engineers at Google (though they are about 48 percent of Google’s non-tech employees). He observed that, on average, men tend to be more interested in things and women more interested in people. What a scandal! Except, in 2015, women accounted for 20.03 percent of all engineering graduates, but 84.43 percent of health professionals. As Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institute noted, the share of women holding tech positions at Google (20 percent) is close to the percentage of women computer science graduates (18 percent).

Damore said that men are more competitive and women more cooperative. Studies of the effects of testosterone and other hormones confirm that there is a biological foundation for these differing traits. Damore noted that women prefer more workplace flexibility than men and that accordingly, Google might want to permit more part-time work to accommodate women’s preferences. He pleaded, above all, that Google treat every person as an individual.

It is remarkable to me that any difference between the sexes is presumed to be a disadvantage for women – to the point that facts must be suppressed and orthodoxy enforced.

Our society erupts in routine firestorms about women in technical fields because that is one of the few that is male-dominated. But women far outnumber men in many other realms. Besides earning 56 percent of all bachelors degrees, women comprise 55 percent of financial managers, 59 percent of budget analysts, and 63 percent of insurance underwriters. Sixty-one percent of veterinarians are women, along with 72 percent of Ph.D. psychologists. Why are these disparities tolerable?

What Damore said about men being attracted to things and women to people is of course a generalization. Individuals will vary. Some women are into engineering and technical subjects, God bless them, just as some men are drawn to pediatrics and social work. But the bell curves are different, and the fact that men lag behind women in veterinary medicine is not necessarily due to structural sexism or discrimination. It may be a matter of preference. That was Damore’s point about engineers at Google.

The other truth that is obscured by this frenzy is that the economy is tilting in the direction of women’s natural advantages, not men’s. The post-industrial economy rewards communication skills, interpersonal skills, and cooperative efficiency. Men’s physical strength, willingness to endure danger and other hardships, and independence are of diminishing value. Those are challenges we must address for everyone’s good. But as Google just showed to its shame, you can’t say that and hope to survive in corporate America.

 

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  1. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    Having worked in Seattle Public Schools for more than 40 years I know well the culture of “diversity” and  how quickly you can be terminated for expressing diverse opinions. It was the rule in the school systems long before corporate American adopted this regime. The left simply doesn’t want to hear any view it deems to be heresy, and any view contrary to the dogma of the left is heresy, not a difference of opinion. Leftism is not political ideology, it is religion. There is little difference between the current leftist aristocracy and the Inquisition. This is, unfortunately, a basic tenet of human nature.

    • #1
  2. drlorentz Member
    drlorentz
    @drlorentz

    This incident is a perfect illustration why anonymity is often prudent. Damore should have distributed his memo without putting his name on it. Discretion is the better part of valor.

    • #2
  3. FloppyDisk90 Member
    FloppyDisk90
    @FloppyDisk90

    This sword cuts both ways.  If Damore was an employee at Hobby Lobby and called into question it’s Christian values and wrote a 10 page, entirely reasonable memo about the biases of Christians and recommended ways that Hobby Lobby be more inclusive of atheists would you be defending him if they (Hobby Lobby) decided his values weren’t consistent with the corporate culture and decided to terminate him?

    • #3
  4. drlorentz Member
    drlorentz
    @drlorentz

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):
    This sword cuts both ways. If Damore was an employee at Hobby Lobby and called into question it’s Christian values and wrote a 10 page, entirely reasonable memo about the biases of Christians and recommended ways that Hobby Lobby be more inclusive of atheists would you be defending him if they (Hobby Lobby) decided his values weren’t consistent with the corporate culture and decided to terminate him?

    This is a false equivalence because Google is hypocritical: they proclaim to be open, tolerant, and inclusive while being exactly the opposite. Damore was actually supporting the stated values of Google. A closer analogy would be a Hobby Lobby employee criticizing the organization for operating a brothel in the back room and getting fired for that.

    • #4
  5. Bob W Member
    Bob W
    @WBob

    If he had said that women were better at coding than men, and for reasons x, y and z etc., would the outcome have been the same? We can never know for sure, but if he would not have been fired for writing that, what does it mean? The reasons Google is giving for firing him are that it’s obnoxious to the culture they try to cultivate there, to suggest that gender differences disqualify someone. But that would mean it would cut both ways wouldn’t it?

    I don’t think they would have fired him. The reason this kind of thing happens is less about ideological intolerance and more about the universal human desire to “go with the flow”, the need to be accepted and applauded by one’s peers and coworkers, and the public in general. And unfortunately, the “flow” in that world is determined by the left. For people in positions of hiring an firing, the greatest fear is to run afoul of the “flow.”  It’s simply the path of least resistance to fire him for what he wrote, just as it would have been the path of least resistance to let him stay if he said the opposite. Consistency or respect for speech and ideas isn’t the goal. Either is left wing ideological purity. The goal is conformity.

    • #5
  6. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Well, it is not just Google, now is it.

     

     

    • #6
  7. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    But was it worth him being fired? This is an interesting story because while Mona highlighted throughout, the stats of women in positions similar to engineering as exceeding, and while disputing Damore’s comments as probably sexist, she spends the last paragraph highlighting the same differences, like Damore, to the point where men’s natural traits are becoming ‘less desirable’. It’s all so ridiculous and dangerous. Maybe we should just go with robots, since human qualities seem undesirable, and we’ll soon resemble robots.

    Further, the suppression of free speech, ideas, and expression are starting to mimic regimes that have no freedom – and the indoctrination is full tilt in schools, universities, the workplace and social media. This is startling and should be unacceptable.

    • #7
  8. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    An employee getting fired for expressing a thought in plain language that isn’t lude or rude will most likely soon be a very wealthy former employee. I wish him well. I also wish I wasn’t so engaged with Google in my tech life…email, browser, etc.  Allow me to say hooray for Mona. I very much enjoyed reading a piece by her that didn’t have the T word mentioned even once. Thank you Mona Charen.

    • #8
  9. FloppyDisk90 Member
    FloppyDisk90
    @FloppyDisk90

    drlorentz (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):
    This sword cuts both ways. If Damore was an employee at Hobby Lobby and called into question it’s Christian values and wrote a 10 page, entirely reasonable memo about the biases of Christians and recommended ways that Hobby Lobby be more inclusive of atheists would you be defending him if they (Hobby Lobby) decided his values weren’t consistent with the corporate culture and decided to terminate him?

    This is a false equivalence because Google is hypocritical: they proclaim to be open, tolerant, and inclusive while being exactly the opposite. Damore was actually supporting the stated values of Google. A closer analogy would be a Hobby Lobby employee criticizing the organization for operating a brothel in the back room and getting fired for that.

    OK, Damore criticized Hobby Lobby for not sufficiently adhering to the Christian imperative to “love thy neighbor” and presented as exhibit A it’s failure to sufficiently embrace atheists.

    • #9
  10. Von Snrub Inactive
    Von Snrub
    @VonSnrub

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):

    drlorentz (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):
    This sword cuts both ways. If Damore was an employee at Hobby Lobby and called into question it’s Christian values and wrote a 10 page, entirely reasonable memo about the biases of Christians and recommended ways that Hobby Lobby be more inclusive of atheists would you be defending him if they (Hobby Lobby) decided his values weren’t consistent with the corporate culture and decided to terminate him?

    This is a false equivalence because Google is hypocritical: they proclaim to be open, tolerant, and inclusive while being exactly the opposite. Damore was actually supporting the stated values of Google. A closer analogy would be a Hobby Lobby employee criticizing the organization for operating a brothel in the back room and getting fired for that.

    OK, Damore criticized Hobby Lobby for not sufficiently adhering to the Christian imperative to “love thy neighbor” and presented as exhibit A it’s failure to sufficiently embrace atheists.

    But this doesn’t happen. I’m glad I’m hooked into the youtube activism strain of the Conservative/Libertarian movement because this sites needless and defeatist contrarianism is unproductive and worse uninteresting.

    • #10
  11. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Von Snrub (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):

    drlorentz (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):
    This sword cuts both ways. If Damore was an employee at Hobby Lobby and called into question it’s Christian values and wrote a 10 page, entirely reasonable memo about the biases of Christians and recommended ways that Hobby Lobby be more inclusive of atheists would you be defending him if they (Hobby Lobby) decided his values weren’t consistent with the corporate culture and decided to terminate him?

    This is a false equivalence because Google is hypocritical: they proclaim to be open, tolerant, and inclusive while being exactly the opposite. Damore was actually supporting the stated values of Google. A closer analogy would be a Hobby Lobby employee criticizing the organization for operating a brothel in the back room and getting fired for that.

    OK, Damore criticized Hobby Lobby for not sufficiently adhering to the Christian imperative to “love thy neighbor” and presented as exhibit A it’s failure to sufficiently embrace atheists.

    But this doesn’t happen. I’m glad I’m hooked into the youtube activism strain of the Conservative/Libertarian movement because this sites needless and defeatist contrarianism is unproductive and worse uninteresting.

    But, it can happen at a political magazine

    • #11
  12. FloppyDisk90 Member
    FloppyDisk90
    @FloppyDisk90

    Von Snrub (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):

    drlorentz (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):
    This sword cuts both ways. If Damore was an employee at Hobby Lobby and called into question it’s Christian values and wrote a 10 page, entirely reasonable memo about the biases of Christians and recommended ways that Hobby Lobby be more inclusive of atheists would you be defending him if they (Hobby Lobby) decided his values weren’t consistent with the corporate culture and decided to terminate him?

    This is a false equivalence because Google is hypocritical: they proclaim to be open, tolerant, and inclusive while being exactly the opposite. Damore was actually supporting the stated values of Google. A closer analogy would be a Hobby Lobby employee criticizing the organization for operating a brothel in the back room and getting fired for that.

    OK, Damore criticized Hobby Lobby for not sufficiently adhering to the Christian imperative to “love thy neighbor” and presented as exhibit A it’s failure to sufficiently embrace atheists.

    But this doesn’t happen. I’m glad I’m hooked into the youtube activism strain of the Conservative/Libertarian movement because this sites needless and defeatist contrarianism is unproductive and worse uninteresting.

    Neither does running brothels out of businesses.

    • #12
  13. Von Snrub Inactive
    Von Snrub
    @VonSnrub

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Von Snrub (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):

    drlorentz (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):
    This sword cuts both ways. If Damore was an employee at Hobby Lobby and called into question it’s Christian values and wrote a 10 page, entirely reasonable memo about the biases of Christians and recommended ways that Hobby Lobby be more inclusive of atheists would you be defending him if they (Hobby Lobby) decided his values weren’t consistent with the corporate culture and decided to terminate him?

    This is a false equivalence because Google is hypocritical: they proclaim to be open, tolerant, and inclusive while being exactly the opposite. Damore was actually supporting the stated values of Google. A closer analogy would be a Hobby Lobby employee criticizing the organization for operating a brothel in the back room and getting fired for that.

    OK, Damore criticized Hobby Lobby for not sufficiently adhering to the Christian imperative to “love thy neighbor” and presented as exhibit A it’s failure to sufficiently embrace atheists.

    But this doesn’t happen. I’m glad I’m hooked into the youtube activism strain of the Conservative/Libertarian movement because this sites needless and defeatist contrarianism is unproductive and worse uninteresting.

    But, it can happen at a political magazine

    Where, where has this happened at an organization with the size of influence as Google. The Blaze fired Tomi Lahren which I also thought was BS. However, the Blaze does not control information dissemination across the internet.

    Search Islam is bad, then search Christianity is bad.

    • #13
  14. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Von Snrub (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Von Snrub (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):

    drlorentz (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):
    This sword cuts both ways. If Damore was an employee at Hobby Lobby and called into question it’s Christian values and wrote a 10 page, entirely reasonable memo about the biases of Christians and recommended ways that Hobby Lobby be more inclusive of atheists would you be defending him if they (Hobby Lobby) decided his values weren’t consistent with the corporate culture and decided to terminate him?

    This is a false equivalence because Google is hypocritical: they proclaim to be open, tolerant, and inclusive while being exactly the opposite. Damore was actually supporting the stated values of Google. A closer analogy would be a Hobby Lobby employee criticizing the organization for operating a brothel in the back room and getting fired for that.

    OK, Damore criticized Hobby Lobby for not sufficiently adhering to the Christian imperative to “love thy neighbor” and presented as exhibit A it’s failure to sufficiently embrace atheists.

    But this doesn’t happen. I’m glad I’m hooked into the youtube activism strain of the Conservative/Libertarian movement because this sites needless and defeatist contrarianism is unproductive and worse uninteresting.

    But, it can happen at a political magazine

    Where, where has this happened at an organization with the size of influence as Google. The Blaze fired Tomi Lahren which I also thought was BS. However, the Blaze does not control information dissemination across the internet.

    Search Islam is bad, then search Christianity is bad.

    I think this is bad. I also think that organizations will burn people, even if what they say is factual, and they say it someplace else. Even celebrated conservative magazines.

    • #14
  15. Von Snrub Inactive
    Von Snrub
    @VonSnrub

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Von Snrub (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Von Snrub (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):

    drlorentz (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):
    This sword cuts both ways. If Damore was an employee at Hobby Lobby and called into question it’s Christian values and wrote a 10 page, entirely reasonable memo about the biases of Christians and recommended ways that Hobby Lobby be more inclusive of atheists would you be defending him if they (Hobby Lobby) decided his values weren’t consistent with the corporate culture and decided to terminate him?

    This is a false equivalence because Google is hypocritical: they proclaim to be open, tolerant, and inclusive while being exactly the opposite. Damore was actually supporting the stated values of Google. A closer analogy would be a Hobby Lobby employee criticizing the organization for operating a brothel in the back room and getting fired for that.

    OK, Damore criticized Hobby Lobby for not sufficiently adhering to the Christian imperative to “love thy neighbor” and presented as exhibit A it’s failure to sufficiently embrace atheists.

    But this doesn’t happen. I’m glad I’m hooked into the youtube activism strain of the Conservative/Libertarian movement because this sites needless and defeatist contrarianism is unproductive and worse uninteresting.

    But, it can happen at a political magazine

    Where, where has this happened at an organization with the size of influence as Google. The Blaze fired Tomi Lahren which I also thought was BS. However, the Blaze does not control information dissemination across the internet.

    Search Islam is bad, then search Christianity is bad.

    I think this is bad. I also think that organizations will burn people, even if what they say is factual, and they say it someplace else. Even celebrated conservative magazines.

    But why immediately fire at your own?

    • #15
  16. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    The ironic thing is that the memo was about finding innovative, evidence-based strategies to increase the number of women in tech.

    • #16
  17. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    Mona, very well stated.

    As it turns out the cruel demonic heretic James Damore did not write all the horrible things CNN et all claims.  He was just  after a more balanced and fair diversity, which may be even a far more grievous  sin because he called out our ruling elite for not following their own pieties.

    From Ace of  Spades:

    “I hope it’s clear that I’m not saying that diversity is bad,” the author says at one point. Elsewhere he notes, “I strongly believe in gender and racial diversity, and I think we should strive for more.”

    “Instead, the author’s complaint is that Google “has created several discriminatory practices” in its quest for diversity, including affirmative action programs and services available only to women. In one lengthy section, the author lays out alternative ways to increase women’s representation in the company without resorting to “discrimination.””

    • #17
  18. FloppyDisk90 Member
    FloppyDisk90
    @FloppyDisk90

    Von Snrub (View Comment):
    Where, where has this happened at an organization with the size of influence as Google.

    I think Bryan is referring to the Derbyshire sacking at NR…..

    • #18
  19. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Don’t be evil. That’s Corporate’s gig.

    • #19
  20. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):

    Von Snrub (View Comment):
    Where, where has this happened at an organization with the size of influence as Google.

    I think Bryan is referring to the Derbyshire sacking at NR…..

    Well, he was not “fired” as he did not “work” for them. His contract to write for them was terminated.

    • #20
  21. Von Snrub Inactive
    Von Snrub
    @VonSnrub

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):

    Von Snrub (View Comment):
    Where, where has this happened at an organization with the size of influence as Google.

    I think Bryan is referring to the Derbyshire sacking at NR…..

    Didn’t like that either. It’s all evidence that suits our world view, not evidence.

    • #21
  22. Mike-K Member
    Mike-K
    @

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):
    would you be defending him if they (Hobby Lobby) decided his values weren’t consistent with the corporate culture and decided to terminate him?

    Do you have any evidence that such would occur ? Do you have a list f atheists fired ?

    Just wondering. Lots of fake news these days.

    • #22
  23. Chuckles Coolidge
    Chuckles
    @Chuckles

    Google may be closer to this than you think

     

    • #23
  24. Von Snrub Inactive
    Von Snrub
    @VonSnrub

    Chuckles (View Comment):
    Google may be closer to this than you think

    Lol that’s satirical, but close enough

    • #24
  25. FloppyDisk90 Member
    FloppyDisk90
    @FloppyDisk90

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):

    Von Snrub (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):

    drlorentz (View Comment):

    FloppyDisk90 (View Comment):
    This sword cuts both ways. If Damore was an employee at Hobby Lobby and called into question it’s Christian values and wrote a 10 page, entirely reasonable memo about the biases of Christians and recommended ways that Hobby Lobby be more inclusive of atheists would you be defending him if they (Hobby Lobby) decided his values weren’t consistent with the corporate culture and decided to terminate him?

    This is a false equivalence because Google is hypocritical: they proclaim to be open, tolerant, and inclusive while being exactly the opposite. Damore was actually supporting the stated values of Google. A closer analogy would be a Hobby Lobby employee criticizing the organization for operating a brothel in the back room and getting fired for that.

    OK, Damore criticized Hobby Lobby for not sufficiently adhering to the Christian imperative to “love thy neighbor” and presented as exhibit A it’s failure to sufficiently embrace atheists.

    But this doesn’t happen. I’m glad I’m hooked into the youtube activism strain of the Conservative/Libertarian movement because this sites needless and defeatist contrarianism is unproductive and worse uninteresting.

    Neither does running brothels out of businesses.

    OK, I stand corrected:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZEg4gYX9mg

    • #25
  26. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    Google knows that Damore is right about everything. That is why he had to be fired. If allowed to live (remain employed) he might foment a revolution.

    • #26
  27. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Misthiocracy (View Comment):
    The ironic thing is that the memo was about finding innovative, evidence-based strategies to increase the number of women in tech.

    That’s what I got out of my reading of the memo, too. He was suggesting ways to make Google tech a type of place more women might want to work at.

    • #27
  28. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Unsk (View Comment):
    As it turns out the cruel demonic heretic James Damore did not write all the horrible things CNN et all claims.

    Yep. CNN is awful, but it’s not just CNN who is lying about what he wrote.

    Check it out:

    Here Are All The Media Outlets Blatantly Lying About The Google Memo

    • #28
  29. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    It’s all so ridiculous and dangerous. Maybe we should just go with robots, since human qualities seem undesirable, and we’ll soon resemble robots.

    Already there.

    • #29
  30. Richard Easton Coolidge
    Richard Easton
    @RichardEaston

    Mona Charen:

    Damore told the truth. This is not to endorse every word of his memo, but he was completely right that the subject of innate differences between men and women has become taboo. He pointed out, fairly, that whereas some on the right reject science on questions of climate change and evolution, some (many?) on the left resist science on issues of biological differences between men and women. Among left-leaning intellectuals, and that includes the types who run Google, it is not only assumed that all observed differences in traits, interests, and choices between the sexes are the result of oppression (or “socially constructed”), but it is heresy to question this view.

    I realize that this is off the main topic, but it appears that Mona agrees with the assertion that climate change is science.  Or to put it more precisely, that AGW is science.  Does she hold this position?  Because it  appears to me that AGW’s foundations are getting shakier and shakier.  We are getting more examples of the data manipulation that many of us have talked about for a long time. And the problems with the climate change models that Freeman Dyson has spoken about for some time are becoming more pronounced.

    • #30
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