Google Condemns Employee’s Factual Memo… Because Feelings
Cassandra Fairbanks
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An unnamed senior employee at Google has caused a firestorm after writing a factual and realistic memo about diversity which first went viral throughout the company before being published publicly.
The 10-page long memo, titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” discussed the how men and women tend to have different traits which often means they can excel in different careers. The currently unnamed author argued that by focusing on making sure the company is diverse, instead of finding the best talent no matter the person’s age or gender, that they are forced to lower expectations.
“Differences in distributions of traits between men and women may in part explain why we don’t have 50% representation of women in tech and leadership. Discrimination to reach equal representation is unfair, divisive, and bad for business,” the author wrote.
Despite the left’s outcry and immediate jump to screeching about sexism, the author of the report actually offered constructive ideas and ways to achieve diversity by acknowledging that there are differences between men and women.
He noted that women often have a stronger interest in people rather than things, compared to men, which makes the tech industry less appealing to the ladies, generally speaking.
“These two differences in part explain why women relatively prefer jobs in social or artistic areas. More men may like coding because it requires systemizing and even within SWEs, comparatively more women work on front end, which deals with both people and aesthetics,” the memo states.
The memo explains that by acknowledging this difference, the company could find better ways to achieve diversity in tech, such as by offering part-time jobs that may be more appealing to women who wish to have a work-life balance. Another idea he had was to make software engineering more people-oriented by using pair programming and supporting more collaboration.
The author also pointed out that women are often more agreeable, and therefore have trouble negotiating salaries or asking for raises, which is part of the real reason there may be differences in pay for men and women within the company. He added that “there’s overlap between men and women, but this is seen solely as a women’s issue. This leads to exclusory programs like Stretch and swaths of men without support.”
“I’m also not saying that we should restrict people to certain gender roles; I’m advocating for quite the opposite: treat people as individuals, not as just another member of their group (tribalism),” the author wrote.
Additionally, the thoughtful memo asserts that diversity of opinions and political ideologies are far more important than diversity of races and genders. He explained why it is important to have conservative voices at the company, who aren’t shamed into silence.
“Alienating conservatives is both non-inclusive and generally bad business because conservatives tend to be higher in conscientiousness, which is require for much of the drudgery and maintenance work characteristic of a mature company,” he wrote.
Instead of arguing using facts, logic, or reason, many women within the Google team immediately took to social media to scream about the “sexism.” Their hysterics, and threats to quit over their feelings being hurt by facts, ironically further made his point.
https://twitter.com/rakyll/status/893286714961141760
https://twitter.com/rakyll/status/893287112732291072
This is the unpaid labour I deal every day after work as being paid probably less in the end due to systematic bullshit.
— Jaana Dogan ヤナ ドガン (@rakyll) August 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/SC2Darwin/status/893901445912682496
Even worse, Danielle Brown, Google’s new VP of diversity, integrity and governance, wrote an email to all employees condemning the facts contained within the memo. She asserted that the author’s opinions and presentation of facts is “not a viewpoint that I or this company endorses, promotes or encourages.”
“Diversity and inclusion are a fundamental part of our values and the culture we continue to cultivate. We are unequivocal in our belief that diversity and inclusion are critical to our success as a company, and we’ll continue to stand for that and be committed to it for the long haul. As Ari Balogh said in his internal G+ post, ‘Building an open, inclusive environment is core to who we are, and the right thing to do. ‘Nuff said,’” Brown wrote.
When will the left learn that feelings will never outweigh facts?
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