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I agree with almost every point Noam makes, but I feel he could have done a better job steelmanning the counterpoint. There are upsides of having managers not
by caturopath 6y ago
I agree with almost every point Noam makes, but I feel he could have done a better job steelmanning the counterpoint.
There are upsides of having managers not have the level of control over their reports' futures that they do at most companies. (It accomplishes goals of reducing discrimination and it makes people less vulnerable and thus boosts retention.)
There are reasons that the process overhead to accomplish anything at Google is more than at a company like pre-acquisition Waze. (It simply gets 100x more backlash when Google makes a misstep on some of this stuff than any company, in part because they have a responsibility as stewards of so many experiences and so much data. There's also a culture of doing a really crappy job in a first pass -- I think this might be fostered by the process overhead, but it certainly makes removing it very dangerous.)
There are benefits to a comp model that doesn't actually reward you for what you accomplish. (You can get some of your best people to focus long-term.)
There are OBVIOUS benefits to a culture that values political correctness. The author didn't make it clear that he wasn't just being an asshole.
I think, on balance, that Google is unhealthy and could use some more Noam in it, but I think it's not intuitive to everyone why these things are done.
- throwaway3699 6y agoNo, political correctness creates a stranglehold on ideas, the very last thing those in SV need when they are regulating their own monopolies of ideas online.
- titanomachy 6y agoExcessive political correctness does that. A good amount of political correctness means that you never have to work for a manager who openly respects you less because of your race or gender.
- TeaDrunk 6y agoOr also you never have to work for a manager who openly respects others more because of their race or gender. A wide variety of things apply this way. A sane amount of political correctness allows the meritocracy I want in a workplace.
- 0xbadcafebee 6y agoWorth noting that "political correctness" is a phrase created to lampoon/insult the irrational political groupthink of Communism, and was later converted into an indictment of progressive liberal values. Saying "some political correctness okay" is equivalent to saying either "some irrational groupthink is okay", or "some cultural marxism is okay". What's worse than this general confusion, is then implying that it's the same thing as caring about human rights or the right not to be discriminated against. Thus it makes caring about human rights something to be ridiculed. But only when you defend the use of the term. The term "political correctness" is only an insult. Defending it at all is like defending some insult you're given on a playground. "You're a poop head!" "Yeah, well... I *want* to be a poop head!" https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/historical-origin-political-correctness/ https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/historical-origin-p...
- caturopath 6y agoEtymology isn't definition. "Politically correct" has enjoyed non-pejorative use for decades.
- thethethethe 6y agoI still think it is worth pointing out the origin of the term. Whether the term is being used as pejorative or not, its use still plays into a narrative manufactured by the right to suppress and discredit leftist progress
- yters 6y agoOn the other hand, if one is not of the viewpoint labeled as politically correct, then prepare to be ostracized in a very passive aggressive way. Not that I mind much, but passive aggressiveness is annoying. E.g. mentioning anything that smacks of religion, or discussing guns, or expressing skepticism that we modern people are the smartest thing since sliced bread.
- throwaway3699 6y agoThat's not political correctness. I'm talking about a culture of fear around discussing topics like algorithmic bias. BTW: A manager who's secretly a racist is still a racist. PC doesn't make this any better.
- caturopath 6y agoI doubt you actually think that political correctness is not valuable; I bet you just mean that tech companies have swung way too far in one direction in your view. I bet you'd not be sympathetic to the blogger if the 'words' mentioned were "nigger" or "wetback" without some special context or if his analogy was a visceral description holding down and raping the head of a department they had an issue with. (I'm sure they weren't!) There's a balance here, and it is silly not to be sensitive to the desire of companies and folks at them to tiptoe around things, even if you think they should be more open to crudeness.