google employee's internal diversity memo goes viral

[FoxEye]

This ideology is also beoming increasingly irrational:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...s-call-for-end-of-focus-on-white-male-writers

English students at Yale University want the compulsory study of Shakespear, etc, to be removed. Why? Because Shakespear is/was a cisgender white male.

I **** you not.

Some members of Yale’s English faculty welcomed the student activism – Professor Jill Richards told the Yale Daily News that “it is unacceptable that the two-semester requirement for all majors routinely covers the work of eight white, male poets”. But the petition drew criticism from former members of the university.

Slate writer Katy Waldman, who studied English literature at Yale, advised students that “if you want to become well-versed in English literature, you’re going to have to hold your nose and read a lot of white male poets. Like, a lot. More than eight.”

“The canon is what it is, and anyone who wishes to understand how it continues to flow forward needs to learn to swim around in it,” writes Waldman. “I am not arguing that it is acceptable for an English major to graduate from college having only read white male authors or even 70% white male authors. But you cannot profess to be a student of English literature if you have not lingered in the slipstreams of certain foundational figures, who also happen to be (alas) both white and male.”

It's OK to hate cis white males, yo, and to say how "unfortunate" it is that some cis white males became famous or did important things.

Einstein will be next. "We reject Einstein's theories because of his unfortunate attributes of being a cis, white male. We will create a new theory."

 

[MissChief]

True, TRUE Diversity is hiring the best person for the job, be that Male, Female or whatever gender identity someone decides to be on any given day.

 

[Hotwired]

English students at Yale University want the compulsory study of Shakespear, etc, to be removed.

the petition has at least 160 signatories

Guess the guardian lists any old trash as news.


I reckon we can drum up a few thousand signatures for a petition on this site. Nothing in particular, just because.

Not especially hard to get a bunch of students to sign a petition.

 

[dowie]

@FoxEye not wanting to divert too far off topic but there are indeed some absolute clangers of quotes there!

"you’re going to have to hold your nose and read a lot of white male poets"

"who also happen to be (alas) both white and male"

if only people tried flipping some of their statements around they'd quickly see how their efforts to appear anti-racist are actually full on racist

Imagine someone saying "if you want to be well versed in contemporary poetry then you'll have to hold your nose and read some black female poets"

 

[Em3bbs]

VP of Diversity, this a new title?

Diversity roles aren't new, VP is just a level of the person which is used in a lot of American companies across different areas.

 

[FoxEye]

True, TRUE Diversity is hiring the best person for the job, be that Male, Female or whatever gender identity someone decides to be on any given day.

True. But as a (cis) white male I'm becoming increasingly uneasy with the legitimacy being given to those who hate us.

And no doubt somebody will soon say, "You're getting a taste of your own medicine."

But I wasn't responsible for apartheid, or slavery, or...

This new (or not so new) wave of empowered people who *hate* cis, white males is downright scary. I also fail to see how it helps anybody. Maybe the media is making them seem more prevalent than they really are, or more important than they really are. But damn, these people are everywhere online. In all the comment sections. Pressing their agenda of hatred towards white men. It is genuinely scary.

 

[datalol-jack]

Before people get distracted by their own preferences, life stories and GD history, at a glance, the document either holds or folds on the basis of its biological claims, which need looking at before the author's stereotypes of gender specific skill domains and conservative values. For a campus of bright people, I'm surprised they did not start there.

The GD answer to this PR dilemma would be to have the anon go up against a female coder in an algorithmic challenge. Should he lose, his alpha status is revoked with immediate effect.

 

[Tefal]

Yep, it really makes sense for capitalist companies to promote people who can't do the job.

you'll find that often the majority of people who work for a massive multinational do not actually give a **** about the companies best interests.

 

[dowie]

at a glance, the document either holds or folds on the basis of its biological claims, which need looking at before the author's stereotypes of gender specific skill domains and conservative values. For a campus of bright people, I'm surprised they did not start there.

they probably didn't start there because to actually look at stuff from a biological/psychological perspective rather than a social science/gender studies one would open a rather massive can of worms even if he is incorrect about some of his assertions/conclusions - as mentioned in the OP I understand the original post actually had some links, graphics etc.. he's not just pulled all this stuff out of his arse even if you disagree with his conclusions however you're not seriously going to get someone in a senior management position to agree that say, studies show women are on average more likely to be neurotic * etc.. it is massively off message as far as the current status quo re: diversity is concerned and it is much easier for them to simply dismiss the whole thing, say he's wrong without going into details which is what that diversity VP essentially did.


(*example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11519935 this backs up his assertion)

 

[Em3bbs]

you'll find that often the majority of people who work for a massive multinational do not actually give a **** about the companies best interests.

In the case of a company like Google, I'd disagree. If it's a faceless company like Shell or Unilever then I'd maybe agree.

 

[Tefal]

In the case of a company like Google, I'd disagree. If it's a faceless company like Shell or Unilever then I'd maybe agree.

maybe for the coders/developers but to the general staff its just another job for a faceless comlany

 

[Roar87]

maybe for the coders/developers but to the general staff its just another job for a faceless comlany

You'll probably find that at a company like Google everyone is taken very good care of and as a result genuinely gives a crap about the company

 

[Ayahuasca]

Stay safe my white brethren

 

[Diddums]

True. But as a (cis) white male I'm becoming increasingly uneasy with the legitimacy being given to those who hate us.

And no doubt somebody will soon say, "You're getting a taste of your own medicine."

But I wasn't responsible for apartheid, or slavery, or...

This new (or not so new) wave of empowered people who *hate* cis, white males is downright scary. I also fail to see how it helps anybody. Maybe the media is making them seem more prevalent than they really are, or more important than they really are. But damn, these people are everywhere online. In all the comment sections. Pressing their agenda of hatred towards white men. It is genuinely scary.

I don't think it's that bad tbh. It's just that they're a minority so scream the loudest and have loads of people screaming on their behalf. That in turn sells papers so the media are focussing on it making it seem much worse than it is.

 

[StriderX]

Man i love this thread.

But in seriousness, it's not surprising that it'd eventually come out about these silicon valley companies, most of their work is trash, with the odd bit of gold that gets turned into something useful, they've all but ruined San Francisco as a by-product. I truly hate Facebook as well, i'd have to agree with Musk on their lack of intelligence and frankly their COO is a loud waste of air.

It's the new gold town, all the good ideas are already gone and the scraps are being picked up by amateurs, all for a measly 24/7 job that pays too much that you can't spend it near-by because you've gentrified the place.

 

[Aedus]

Enabling these SJW morons is just making matters worse.

I don't see outrage about job roles which are predominantly women, I wonder why? Just hire the best candidates without having to fill a quota and be done with it. Then again you'll get out cries that people are being discriminated against when they have no clue how to do jobs which are above them. The problem is people think the world owes them something for just existing, like they can study art but then walk into a £40k+ job, how about instead of spending hours whining online, actually spend those hours learning a new skill which will help getting a better job.

 

[adolf hamster]

Guess the guardian lists any old trash as news.


I reckon we can drum up a few thousand signatures for a petition on this site. Nothing in particular, just because.

Not especially hard to get a bunch of students to sign a petition.

poll required?

"can ocuk drum up more support than a non-news story?"

usual replies; yes, yes, pancake

 

[FoxEye]

Interestingly enough, I've just been watching/reading about YouTube's (Google's) new "restricted mode". Essentially, they are putting all videos from certain right-wing/conservative vloggers on a "restricted list", forcing people to sign in and age-verify before they can watch it.

In another worrying move, YouTube is automatically unsubscribing children and teens from channels with right-wing/conservative content.

And now people are asking, "Should we let Google decide what we should be watching?"

 

[adolf hamster]

Interestingly enough, I've just been watching/reading about YouTube's (Google's) new "restricted mode". Essentially, they are putting all videos from certain right-wing/conservative vloggers on a "restricted list", forcing people to sign in and age-verify before they can watch it.

In another worrying move, YouTube is automatically unsubscribing children and teens from channels with right-wing/conservative content.

And now people are asking, "Should we let Google decide what we should be watching?"

to quote alice cooper "you are the only censor, if you don't like what i say, you can turn me off"

there was a big ruckus for the gun channels on youtube over this, i'll admit watching rednecks blow stuff up isn't exactly high brow entertainment but then neither is most of youtube.

thing is, these people were successfully producing content which enticed an audience, and had enough of a following that they were making a decent amount off the revenue generated. wether you agree with their content or not is irrelevant, there's lots of things i don't agree with on the internet, but that doesn't mean they should be cut off like that.

ofc that said, it is google's site, so its only fair you follow google's rules, but it does smack a bit of abusing their monopoly.

 

[Tunney]

I don't see outrage about job roles which are predominantly women, I wonder why?

Because traditionally female-dominated occupations tend to be underpaid for the level of intelligence and effort required?

Just hire the best candidates without having to fill a quota and be done with it.

Google doesn't have quotas.

Also, "hiring the best person for the job" isn't as simple as it sounds. Google is notorious for putting candidates through a dozen or so interview rounds but they've still encountered recruitment problems. Interviewers subconsciously favour candidates who remind them of themselves. Questions can unfairly favour some candidates over others.

The assumption that, without a diversity policy, companies hire the best person for the job is simply not true. Hiring the best person for the job is a complex and difficult task.