Come Monday, technology company Google was still reeling after an internal and controversial memo circulated by an employee went viral. The 10-page memo, which questioned the company’s diversity efforts, was the work of one person, but for CBS it meant a setback for all. “Tech-giant Google’s efforts to improve its image as a company that promotes diversity have been dealt a major setback, in the form of a memo from a male employee,” announced Anchor Anthony Mason during CBS Evening News.
The irony of being disgusted by a diverse opinion, albeit a controversial one, was lost on the network as they played up the memo as a travesty.
“This isn't sort of an isolated or fringe perspective in Silicon Valley,” diversity attorney Joelle Emerson told CBS reporter John Blackstone. “Lots of people from the majority group, white men, in particular, might push back against organizations’ diversity and inclusion efforts.”
Blackstone complained that Google wasn’t diverse enough: “Google has made efforts to diversify, but progress has been limited. Its total workforce is 69 percent male, 36 percent white, 35 percent Asian, only 2 percent black.” His bemoaning the racial and gender breakdown of Google’s workforce ignored the fact that the Supreme Court had ruled that using quotas to hire people was unconstitutional.
The CBS reporter found one former Google employee who seemed to suggest the company was a bastion for racists. “Like, I had experienced some amount of microaggressions and some major-aggressions at Google. For a long time, I dealt with it and just kept them inside,” they said. “I can guess that they have seen previously people talk about that internally and nothing happened.”
“Google responded with a statement saying the document ‘advanced incorrect assumptions about gender. It's not a viewpoint this company endorse, promotes or encourages,’” Blackstone added.
Seeming eager to find out if the employee was fired for committing a thought crime, Blackstone begrudgingly mentioned that “the writer's identity is known inside Google, but the company did not respond to our request for more information about him or his status at Google.”
But according to Bloomberg, James Damore, the employee in question, confirmed that he was fired by the tech-giant. “James Damore, the Google engineer who wrote the note, confirmed his dismissal in an email, saying that he had been fired for ‘perpetuating gender stereotypes,’” Bloomberg wrote.
“Firing him could be seen as confirming some of the claims in the memo itself – that the company’s culture makes no room for dissenting political opinions,” Bloomberg whined, missing the point that it means just that.
It means that Google fired Damore for THINKING the wrong thing. Or as Google’s Vice President Danielle Brown put it, he held “difficult political views.” This action could possibly be illegal since the firing appeared to be based on differing political opinions.
Were Damore’s comments controversial and greatly unpopular with many people? Yes. But they were not some “major setback” to diversity as Anchor Anthony Mason described them. What liberals view as wrong-think is actual diversity. Google's firing of the employee did more to set back diversity than the original comments. Liberals only want the diversity they can see, and activity stamps out the diversity of the mind.
Transcript below:
CBS Evening News
August 7, 2017
6:54:42 PM EasternANTHONY MASON: Tech-giant Google’s efforts to improve its image as a company that promotes diversity have been dealt a major setback, in the form of a memo from a male employee. A memo that's gone viral inside Google. Here’s John Blackstone.
[Cuts to video]
JOHN BLACKSTONE: At Google today, where only 20 percent of technology workers are women, the stinging 3,000-word document suggested reasons why. “Biological causes” “may explain why we don't see equal representation,” The unnamed Google engineering employee wrote. "Men have a higher drive for status” and “women on average have more neuroticism,” “this may contribute to the lower number of women in high-stress jobs."
JOELLE EMERSON: This isn't sort of an isolated or fringe perspective in Silicon Valley.
BLACKSTONE: Joelle Emerson is an attorney who helps companies promote diversity.
EMERSON: Lots of people from majority group, white men, in particular, might push back against organizations’ diversity and inclusion efforts.
BLACKSTONE: Google has made efforts to diversify, but progress has been limited. Its total workforce is 69 percent male, 36 percent white, 35 percent Asian, only 2 percent black. As a black female engineer, Erica Baker was a rarity at Google. In 2015, she left after nine years.
ERICA BAKER: Like, I had experienced some amount of micro-aggressions and some major-aggressions at Google. For a long time, I dealt with it and just kept them inside.
BLACKSTONE: Still, she surprised the document spread so widely inside Google.
BAKER: I can guess that they have seen previously people talk about that internally and nothing happened.
BLACKSTONE: Google responded with a statement saying the document “advanced incorrect assumptions about gender. It's not a viewpoint this company endorse, promotes or encourages.”
[Cuts back to live]
The writer's identity is known inside Google, but the company did not respond to our request for more information about him or his status at Google. Anthony?
MASON: John Blackstone outside Google's offices in San Francisco. Thanks, John.
