Google: Trouble in the Politically Correct Establishment?

Many of us assume that companies run by left-wing zealots like Google, Facebook and Twitter are staffed entirely by similarly PC, left-wing zealots.

A recent essay released by a Google employee suggests the truth is not so simple.

A software engineer at Google published a ten-page memo where he criticized “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” resulting in controversy amongst employees within the Google+ internal social network. The author argues within the memo that women are underrepresented in tech fields not because of discrimination, but because of inherent psychological differences between men and women, echoing a similar argument made by former Breitbart senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos in 2016. When discussing Google’s educational guidelines for young women, the memo’s author writes, “We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism.”

The memo released a firestorm of outrage and the predictable threats of violence against the Google employee for challenging political correctness within the company. Yet it appears this software engineer is not alone.

Despite what the public response seems to have been, I’ve gotten many personal messages from fellow Googlers expressing their gratitude for bringing up these very important issues which they agree with but would never have the courage to say or defend because of our shaming culture and the possibility of being fired. This needs to change.

Google’s VP for “Diversity, Integrity & Governance” replied with the most revealing statement of all:

Part of building an open, inclusive environment means fostering a culture in which those with alternative views, including different political views, feel safe sharing their opinions. But that discourse needs to work alongside the principles of equal employment found in our Code of Conduct, policies, and anti-discrimination laws.

You don’t have to read between the lines too hard on this one. Basically, it means: Openness and inclusivity are welcome, so long as you “work alongside” politically correct views, including views backed up by laws. So much for sharing a diversity of opinions!

That’s the whole problem this brave software engineer and the possibly 30-40 percent of people who work at Google that are NOT politically correct are up against. Advocates of prevailing and established viewpoints have given up on rational discourse and now hide behind (1) intimidation and (2) the law.

The law is the last refuge of people who cannot win intellectual arguments otherwise. Shaming is their last stop before invoking the law. Progressives and PC types do so because it’s all they have. They sense that objectivity and reason are not on their side, so silencing dissenting opinion at companies like Google is their default course of action. When that fails, they threaten to beat you up, as some on social media are promising to do when Google employees speak their minds on political correctness.

Social justice warriors – a polite term for totalitarians – on social media and elsewhere have actually complained that Google’s VP for Diversity, Integrity & Governance replied too softly to what they deem “hate speech”, and instead they demand “consequences”. Consequences for holding a point-of-view with which they disagree? Why not point out the rational truth in your point-of-view, instead of calling for the Google engineer’s head?

Dissenters who depart from political correctness have a struggle on their hands, as the response to this brave dissenting software engineer at Google demonstrates. But dissenters already knew this.

The revealing issue here is that companies like Google are not populated entirely by people of a single mindset about liberty, individual rights, gender, racial and intellectual viewpoints. They might have an internal revolt on their hands which, if it catches fire as Donald Trump’s presidential campaign did last year, could end up really bad for business.

Especially if they don’t respond in the right way. What’s your next move, Google? Facebook, Twitter and other uncompromisingly left-wing tech companies … are you watching?

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