Google’s decision to fire an engineer who wrote a 10-page memo questioning the company’s diversity hiring practices is coming under some fire of its own.
Two days ago, a memo had gone internally viral within Google. The memo, which was written by Google Software Engineer James Damore, talked in detail about how Google’s diversity hiring efforts were misplaced, and said how the company should value diversity in thought instead. The author had called Google an “echo chamber” where some ideas — such as that men and women have different skills — are considered too controversial to be discussed.
Google now appears to have proven the author’s point by going ahead and firing him.
Um, earth to @Google, men and women are different. You can't promote true diversity if you pretend differences don't exist. #googlememo
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) August 8, 2017
The author of the original memo had stated that people should be hired based on their ability alone. Google, like many other Silicon Valley tech companies, actively strives to create a diverse workplace by prioritizing hiring women and people of colour. The author had said in the memo that on average, men and women have different traits, and that explains why there isn’t an equal distribution of men and women in tech and leadership roles. He said artificially creating an equal workplace could have adverse effects on the company. “Discrimination to reach equal representation is unfair, divisive, and bad for business,” his memo had said.
He also added that Google had created a culture that only allowed people within it to think a certain way, and didn’t allow people to express opinions freely. People have been saying that the engineer’s firing only proves what he was trying to say.
Damore: @Google does not value diversity of thought@sundarpichai: That's a lie, and you're fired for even thinking that.
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) August 8, 2017
Google, one of the biggest science and tech companies in the world, fired someone for believing in science in the tech community
— Ben McDonald (@Bmac0507) August 8, 2017
Google: And to prove there's no 'Ideological Echo Chamber' here at Google, we've terminated the employee who believed there was. All is well
— Chet Cannon (@Chet_Cannon) August 8, 2017
Employee: Google stifles opposing view points
Google: No we don't. You're fired.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 8, 2017
Dear @Google,
Stop teaching my girl that her path to financial freedom lies not in coding but in complaining to HR.
Thx in advance,
A dad
— Eric Weinstein (@EricRWeinstein) August 8, 2017
Even women are angry at Google’s handling of the situation.
So, stating facts at @google is a sackable offence.
— Claire Lehmann (@clairlemon) August 8, 2017
As a person of color, Brianna Wu is blatantly lying about the Google Diversity manifesto.
Shame on Google for firing James Damore. ?
— Patty Politics (@youngblackcon) August 8, 2017
Some people are also calling for a boycott of Google.
Don't use Google; they censor free speech, hate scientific facts, and distort reality.
Choose a better search engine.#GoogleManifesto pic.twitter.com/7l3m6lQv62
— /pol/ News Forever (@polNewsForever) August 8, 2017
People are calling Google’s firing authoritarian. Some are creating Google doodles with the communist hammer and sickle in its logo.
Hey Google, you fired the guy?
I fixed your logo for you.#googlememo #GoogleManifesto pic.twitter.com/rpuoKCitQL— Thâ–³t Thicc Pooka (@TheQuQu) August 8, 2017
Venezuela: If you criticize socialism you will be jailed for 30 years.
Google: If you criticize diversity you will be fired and front paged.— Exile (@404thExile) August 8, 2017
From having a motto of “Don’t be evil” to being compared to communist dictatorships, Google has come a long way.