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he did lose his livelihood, had his professional reputation destroyed I'm frankly ashamed at the behavior of my classmates, who were so enthusiastically throwi

he did lose his livelihood, had his professional reputation destroyed I'm frankly ashamed at the behavior of my classmates, who were so enthusiastically throwing him under the bus, without really knowing anything about him. I found it very odd that people who had no basis of judging his software engineering skills had very strong opinions about them. I'm reminded of a documentary film about North Korea, where during one segment of a meeting, people went up to the front of the room and took turns condemning the United States, and were cheered the more fanatical they sounded. There is indeed "thought-crime" in the United States, and this category is at times conveniently expanded to to encompass any questioning of the new orthodoxy at all, with no basis but irrational, emotional ones.

throwawaymanbot 9y ago
He did not commit thought crime. He espoused out of date views in a company that is modern, and trying to harness the future. They did not like it. End of story.. Poor Social Conservative Justice Warriors need to stop whining already. Everyones out of tears for you since trump won.
Arainach 9y ago
Team interaction is a software engineering skill. The ability to work with a diverse set of people and bring them together rather than disparaging and dividing them is a software engineering skill. I would rather have a good programmer who got along with my team than a great one that wrote such memos.
- ThomPete 9y ago
  Then perhaps Google shouldn't ask for feedback on their courses. Seems rather disingenuous to say the least.
  - alsetmusic 9y ago
    > Then perhaps Google shouldn't ask for feedback on their courses. Seems rather disingenuous to say the least. My impression is that he circulated his “feedback” among employees. I would be surprised if that was requested by Google.
    - ThomPete 9y ago
      He was encouraged like anyone else who took the course to provide feedback after a diversity program that he attended. That's how it started.
- Consultant32452 9y ago
  Can we differentiate between firing Damore and participating in a nation-wide metaphorical public hanging?
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > Can we differentiate between firing Damore and participating in a nation-wide metaphorical public hanging? Yes. Starting with the first is a thing that actually happened, and the second is not, so it's not worth talking about.
    - Consultant32452 9y ago
      I'm sorry, but some random nobody at Google having some wrong ideas about diversity policy does not deserve to be national front page news. James Damore is about as meek and mild as it gets. He's not some David Duke monster. None of us should have ever heard his name. This was a public assassination of a powerless nobody for cheap political points. That's the part that I have a problem with. I have no problem at all with Google firing him. I have a problem with the way the national media and general public behaved.
      - dragonwriter 9y ago
        > I'm sorry, but some random nobody at Google having some wrong ideas about diversity policy does not deserve to be national front page news. Claims of anti-white-male discrimination in tech are man-bites-dog stories, and naturally get more attention for that reason, plus, Damore immediately sought out media with political biases to maximally promote that kind of story. It becoming national front page news and getting the degree of attention it did in part just novelty, and in very large part the foreseeable result of how Damore soguht to promote his story. > This was a public assassination No, it wasn't. It was public, but there was no assassination.
        Consultant32452 9y ago
        >Damore immediately sought out media with political biases to maximally promote that kind of story Was this before or after he'd already made national headlines for having written an "anti-diversity manifesto?"
UncleMeat 9y ago
Software engineering skills are immaterial if you are making a considerable portion of a company with tens of thousands of employees uncomfortable and less productive. There is no way he was a net positive. Team coherence and psychological safety are important, just as important as engineering skill. This is especially true at a large company.

throwawaymanbot 9y ago

He did not commit thought crime. He espoused out of date views in a company that is modern, and trying to harness the future. They did not like it. End of story.. Poor Social Conservative Justice Warriors need to stop whining already. Everyones out of tears for you since trump won.

Arainach 9y ago

Team interaction is a software engineering skill. The ability to work with a diverse set of people and bring them together rather than disparaging and dividing them is a software engineering skill. I would rather have a good programmer who got along with my team than a great one that wrote such memos.

ThomPete 9y ago
Then perhaps Google shouldn't ask for feedback on their courses. Seems rather disingenuous to say the least.
- alsetmusic 9y ago
  > Then perhaps Google shouldn't ask for feedback on their courses. Seems rather disingenuous to say the least. My impression is that he circulated his “feedback” among employees. I would be surprised if that was requested by Google.
  - ThomPete 9y ago
    He was encouraged like anyone else who took the course to provide feedback after a diversity program that he attended. That's how it started.
Consultant32452 9y ago
Can we differentiate between firing Damore and participating in a nation-wide metaphorical public hanging?
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Can we differentiate between firing Damore and participating in a nation-wide metaphorical public hanging? Yes. Starting with the first is a thing that actually happened, and the second is not, so it's not worth talking about.
  - Consultant32452 9y ago
    I'm sorry, but some random nobody at Google having some wrong ideas about diversity policy does not deserve to be national front page news. James Damore is about as meek and mild as it gets. He's not some David Duke monster. None of us should have ever heard his name. This was a public assassination of a powerless nobody for cheap political points. That's the part that I have a problem with. I have no problem at all with Google firing him. I have a problem with the way the national media and general public behaved.
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      > I'm sorry, but some random nobody at Google having some wrong ideas about diversity policy does not deserve to be national front page news. Claims of anti-white-male discrimination in tech are man-bites-dog stories, and naturally get more attention for that reason, plus, Damore immediately sought out media with political biases to maximally promote that kind of story. It becoming national front page news and getting the degree of attention it did in part just novelty, and in very large part the foreseeable result of how Damore soguht to promote his story. > This was a public assassination No, it wasn't. It was public, but there was no assassination.
      - Consultant32452 9y ago
        >Damore immediately sought out media with political biases to maximally promote that kind of story Was this before or after he'd already made national headlines for having written an "anti-diversity manifesto?"

UncleMeat 9y ago

Software engineering skills are immaterial if you are making a considerable portion of a company with tens of thousands of employees uncomfortable and less productive. There is no way he was a net positive. Team coherence and psychological safety are important, just as important as engineering skill. This is especially true at a large company.