Google's fired engineer gives first explanation of his inflammatory sexist memo

[alp227]

Source: Mercury News

MOUNTAIN VIEW — The engineer fired by Google for his infamous memo claiming women were more neurotic and less suited than men for tech and leadership jobs has said he wrote it after attending a company diversity program.

James Damore was sacked by Google on Monday, with CEO Sundar Pichai saying he had crossed a line by “advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.”

In a video interview with alt-right, pro-Trump pundit Stefan Molyneux on “Freedomain Radio,” Damore said he wrote the 10-page screed during a 12-hour work flight to China after the diversity event.

“It wasn’t recorded at all — it was totally secretive,” Damore said of the diversity meeting. “I heard things that I definitely disagreed with. I had some discussions with people there. There was a lot of shaming: ‘No, you can’t say that, that’s sexist, you can’t do this.’ There’s just so much hypocrisy in a lot of the things that they’re saying.”

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/09/googles-fired-engineer-gives-first-explanation-of-his-inflammatory-sexist-memo/

[Not Ruth]

1. That memo was offensively intellectual

That engineer was very full of himself

[TexasBushwhacker]

4. It makes me wonder if he lost a promotion to a woman

or had a female supervisor he didn't like. Maybe there are fewer women in tech because there are too many men LIKE HIM!

[LittleGirl]

15. That's a good possibility

As a former woman of tech, there are a bunch of those hypocrites.

[regnaD kciN]

2. Funny how some people only become "First Amendment absolutists"...

...when the speech in question serves to bolster the dominant political/social order.

[Honeycombe8]

3. How the diversity meeting was is irrelevant to his memo.

It's the old switcheroo argument used in debates. That the meeting was offensive to him has no bearing on his thoughts about women or others who are not like him. Although his anger about the meeting may have caused him to put down his bigoted statements on paper.

He should attend an anger management meeting. LOL.

I've been to a diversity meeting before. They are kinda stupid. They say things that just aren't right, but you can't discuss it. They speak AT you. But the whole point, I think, is to tell you the law, and to get people to thinking about the subject generally, and to keep those things in mind in your actions and speech at work.

It's not a big deal, in the scheme of things. He obviously has pent up anger toward women. He feels threatened? He has a little winkie?

[procon]

5. He's whining because he just learned he can't keep assaulting women coworkers.

He sounds very immature, but do read his pathetic rant. Worse, he thinks Google is picking on him because he's a conservative.

[dalton99a]

8. +1

[Fresh_Start]

6. Its clear he could use a little more of the 'scorned' people skills

I also wonder if he was attending a 'remedial' diversity training session for people who are failing to be good coworkers.

[Renew Deal]

7. I get the feeling that reading the manifesto is a waste of time

It's a bunch of sexist BS with no value

[dalton99a]

9. It's pseudo-intellectual RW garbage

[BigmanPigman]

11. Exactly. Translation:Blah, blah, blah.

[DRoseDARs]

13. Ten pages of it...

Ten.
Fucking.
Pages.

[obamanut2012]

16. It is also very racist -- ala the Bell Curve

Many people aren't reporting that aspect -- because it's not as socially acceptable to be racist as to be sexist.

[DRoseDARs]

10. So very unfair he can't compliment female coworkers' tits, or pat their asses for a job well-done.

Which would be surprising in-and-of-itself given women aren't as intelligent as men and have no business being in engineering in the first place, right Damore? The poor dear, how could he work under such conditions? I say he should go see if he can land a job over at FOX News, but Feminazis abound there too. The struggle is real for snowflakes like you, James.

[truthisfreedom]

12. Some people don't know when to quit.

[DonCoquixote]

14. no surpise assange joined in

really Julian, you came out of your cave to defend sexism, quelle surprise!

[Javaman]

17. this moron strikes me like a number of past employees at were I work...

they believe they are so incredible at their jobs that it's a complete mystery to them as to why they haven't moved up the ladder quicker.

they are legends in their own minds.

usually they take several routes to unemployment...

they piss off management...like this guy

they piss off a coworker...like this guy

they piss off a client...like this guy

or

they do something so fucking stupid, that its impossible not to fire him...like this guy.

[SWBTATTReg]

18. Don't call this google guy an engineer!

He's an insult to the profession, and I've worked w/ many (literally hundreds and hundreds) of truly outstanding female engineers in system and software development, over last 3 decades or so. Had highest of respect for fellow workers of all stripes and creeds, and really, when you get down to it, good code doesn't really care where it comes from...

This guy is all about me me me me me...and obviously never taught any manners befitting a gentleman...

Pathetic...

[Sunlei]

19. during a 12-hour "work" flight to China.

[Gothmog]

20. By firing engineer, Google shows what you can say and what you can't at work

Google was correct to fire this idiot http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-google-speech-termination-20170808-story.html

The thing about free speech

One thing many misunderstand about the 1st Amendment is that it only protects the public’s right to free speech from government censorship — meaning it doesn’t apply to the relationship between private employers and employees.

“The 1st Amendment is actually irrelevant because the language says, ‘Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech,’ so it only restricts what Congress may do,” said Matt Oster, an attorney with Wolf, Rifkin, Shapiro, Schulman & Rabkin. “An employer is pretty free to restrict what its employees may say, as long as it doesn’t run afoul of other rules.”

Diversity training was supposed to reduce bias at Google. In case of fired engineer, it backfired.
It’s a different story for government workers, who get 1st Amendment protections in the workplace because their employer is, well, the government. But for employees of non-government organizations, there is no blanket free speech protection....

While Damore could argue that his termination was a violation of the National Labor Code or the Fair Employment and Housing Act, Google could counter that he wasn’t fired for views protected under the labor code, legal experts said.

Employment attorneys were quick to point out that in his own memo to employees, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai acknowledged that parts of Damore’s memo were “fair to debate, regardless of whether a vast majority of Googlers disagree with it,” potentially setting the company up to defend itself against accusations of quelling unpopular opinions.

Instead, Pichai focused on the “portions of the memo” that violated the company’s code of conduct, such as when Damore stereotyped women by stating that women on average were more neurotic and prone to anxiety, making them less compatible with tech’s work environment.