One or two comments on Brooks’s dopy gurlz R diffrunt frum Us piece.

LT:

Mr Brooks, as someone paid to express opinions instead of say, writing software, you may be surprised to learn that most companies are not interested in providing a platform for employees to express controversial opinions outside of their job scope.

When such opinions interfere with the employees ability to effectively perform their job they are often asked to leave.

Mr. Damore expressed his thoughts in a way that made leading and working with a diverse team of engineers who may not share his opinion, difficult if not impossible.

You may feel Damore made several good points but Google is not a debating club and Pichai had every right to fire him.

And if next week someone at Apple or Microsoft or Walmart, decides that their company needs to read their valuable thoughts about say, Charles Murray’s “The Bell Curve” , perhaps they should remember they are not a columnist before they press send.

atmt:

“Fire the CEO”, says Mr. Brooks, but fails spectacularly to build a case supporting such an action.
Firstly, he assumes that because some scientists have supported Damore’s memo, it represents settled science. It doesn’t. Other scientists/ academics including Adam Grant have disputed the memo’s claims. A recent article in the Guardian points out that the memo’s claims do not hold up in other cultural/ geographical contexts, such as in China and India, where controlled empirical tests do not demonstrate the gender differences cited in the memo. Etc.
Secondly, Google is not a gender/ genetic research laboratory, whose primary goal is to give a platform to the latest scientific research in the field, regardless of whether it is settled science. It is a private company, whose primary responsibility is to its shareholders. It needs to make money, for which it must make sure that employees feel motivated, energized and valued, rather than discontented, demoralized and devalued. Hence it must nip the seeds of discontent in the bud. In that context, Pichai made absolutely the right decision.

gemli:

Well, there are differences between men and women. I mean, vive la différence! Hubba hubba!

Also, women are supposed to take care of Wally and the Beaver, putter around the kitchen in dresses and high heels and prepare meals for the breadwinner, who’s an executive at a big company that is quite diverse, in that it probably hires black people to run the elevators.

I exaggerate to make a point. I read James Damore’s memo, and I don’t think I was as shocked as a liberal is supposed to be. Then again, I’m a little insensitive to bunny-hugging college kids who need trigger warnings before sensitive topics, like literature and history, are discussed in class.

But I’m not sure what Damore was trying to accomplish in this memo that justified what amounted to juggling nitroglycerine, or why defending himself on right-wing AM radio seemed like the best venue for defending his thesis.

Is Google not making enough technological progress? Is taking over the world being slowed by offices full of hysterical females?

Back when my parents were born, women couldn’t vote. When I was born, the front page of the local newspaper reported that a woman(!) was a jury member in a murder trial. It’s been an uphill slog for women to gain fully human status and a modicum of respect, and it’s alarming that despite so much progress, crotch groping is not a disqualification for the presidency.

Damore needn’t grease the skids. They’re plenty greasy enough.

Jessica:

In the late nineteenth century and beyond, it was common to asssert that women were biologically unsuited to the medical profession. Now nearly half of medical students in the United States are women. Imagine how doctors’ demographics would look if the Damores of earlier times had won the day. Perhaps it’s better to assume the dominance of discrimination until proven otherwise, especially when the gender balance is as highly skewed as it is in the tech sector.

I cherry-picked comments critical of Brooks. There were plenty of fans commenting.