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I t’s a sad day in America when you can lose your job for expressing the opinion that men and women are different. Earlier this month, tech giant Google (GOOGL) fired software engineer James Damore for writing a memorandum titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber.” His ouster was the most recent reminder that in corporate America today, identity politics are a strictly enforced orthodoxy. Dissenters are pink-slipped and shamed. This particular Silicon Valley diversity debacle started because Google’s engineering department is 80% male . This gender imbalance has led to hand-wringing across the mega-tech company’s executive suite. Little changed, despite a commitment of $265 million dollars to diversity efforts starting in 2014 and a slew of programs and initiatives to get more women and minorities into leadership and engineering positions. But Google continues on its quest for more underrepresented minorities of all kinds, particularly female software engineers. Read James Damore’s manifesto challenging the diversity mantra, and you’ll find a well-reasoned, 10-page memo with headings such as “non- discriminatory ways to reduce the gender gap.” Damore agreed that women face specific obstacles and that sexism exists, but suggested that maybe women are also different from men and therefore make different career choices, too. Perhaps accurately assessing the problem at Google would bring about better solutions for all?
The media analyzed the memo with all the respect and nuance a Neanderthal's cave paintings would receive in a Smith College sociology class.
In response, the Left went nuts. The media analyzed the memo with all the respect and nuance a Neanderthal’s cave paintings would receive in a Smith College sociology class. Damore had done the unthinkable by challenging a central tenet of contemporary American human resources wisdom – namely that women are oppressed in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields where they are a minority. Even worse, he did so in a measured tone, using logic, reason, and making frequent concessions to the other side of the argument. Google fired him anyway. Damore posited a theory rooted in science and a few decades of research, but it ran into the buzz saw of progressive ideology... And while many scientists have come out to support some of Damore’s core premises, that didn’t stop the social-justice mob from labeling him an “alt-right hero” or smearing him as sexist. As is often the case with corporate-speech police, the ensuing liberal outrage brigade collapsed into self-parody. Some liberal publications decided to go the “ science is flawed ” route to undermine
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