He is clearly being aggressively demonized by some, at least internally.
Even Sundar's statement using the word 'neurotic' reads like an attempt to smear him. James Damore referred to neuroticism in the personality metric sense.
Honestly this whole thing comes down to what kinds of things can be considered a minority. Calling a man "White cis male" ignores the fact that he might be autistic, ADHD or any number of other things.
I have an autoimmune condition where I get migraines and asthma attacks from certain types of perfumes and air fresheners. They put in new air fresheners at work and I used more migraine medication than I had in years. I keep running out of asthma inhalers. I asked HR to switch them out and the answer was "Not gonna happen." No discussion, no argument, just straight up.
Asking around I found out that they were making some employees walk around to use another entrance that didn't have an air freshener by it. What? Finally I got the MSDS that showed it contained all sorts of nasties. There's a warning that you aren't supposed to inhale the vapors. Kinda hard when they're everywhere. Crazy.
The point is, this whole IT discussion and gamer-gate and several other issues seems to be a war over what is and what is not a minority. IT guys who were beat up as kids and ignored by the pretty girls are now in positions of power. And feel like these same bullies are coming back to get them.
We need a better way to discuss this. Throwing around terms like "White cis male" just hides the fact that most people are in a minority of one sort or another - even white cis males.
Calling anyone "cis" also immediately demonstrates one's own bias towards a particular philosophical framework regarding the difference between trans-identifying people and people who are not trans-identifying.
It's the same as how referring to individuals as "saved" and "not saved" intimates that one has a religious philosophy.
Every philosophy makes certain assumptions about the world, and some of those assumptions are weaknesses rather than useful heuristics.
Why is it that the people who bide their time thinking about and writing such venomous, unhelpful "biotruths" end up looking like frail, pathetic creatures themselves?
Here's an interesting thought experiment. What groups count as minority? When we reach 50% women, what if there aren't enough black women? Once we reach precisely 16% black women of the 50% women, what if there aren't enough short black women? Continue this and eventually you realize that the only real way to have perfect diversity is to go down to the individual level: Black Woman, age 35, Jamaican heritage, bachelor degree, 10 years experience, middle class, democrat, etc.
Is the optimal system of representation at an individual level? Each person is a demographic of one. Saying that you lack diversity because most employees are "white male" is the same as claiming that all black women are the same (and would be better off with more white male "diverse" perspectives) -- sure you are missing one type of diversity, but you have infinite diversity along other axes (Heritage, Southern/Northern, Conservative/Liberal, Height, Weight, Family life, College, Religion, Hobbies, Interests, Health Issues, Strengths/Weaknesses, Experience).
If you want to refute this point, then please start by demonstrating that all black women think alike, and how they might benefit from the diversity of more white men.
7 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 24.8 ms ] threadEven Sundar's statement using the word 'neurotic' reads like an attempt to smear him. James Damore referred to neuroticism in the personality metric sense.
I have an autoimmune condition where I get migraines and asthma attacks from certain types of perfumes and air fresheners. They put in new air fresheners at work and I used more migraine medication than I had in years. I keep running out of asthma inhalers. I asked HR to switch them out and the answer was "Not gonna happen." No discussion, no argument, just straight up.
Asking around I found out that they were making some employees walk around to use another entrance that didn't have an air freshener by it. What? Finally I got the MSDS that showed it contained all sorts of nasties. There's a warning that you aren't supposed to inhale the vapors. Kinda hard when they're everywhere. Crazy.
The point is, this whole IT discussion and gamer-gate and several other issues seems to be a war over what is and what is not a minority. IT guys who were beat up as kids and ignored by the pretty girls are now in positions of power. And feel like these same bullies are coming back to get them.
We need a better way to discuss this. Throwing around terms like "White cis male" just hides the fact that most people are in a minority of one sort or another - even white cis males.
Calling anyone "cis" also immediately demonstrates one's own bias towards a particular philosophical framework regarding the difference between trans-identifying people and people who are not trans-identifying.
It's the same as how referring to individuals as "saved" and "not saved" intimates that one has a religious philosophy.
Every philosophy makes certain assumptions about the world, and some of those assumptions are weaknesses rather than useful heuristics.
>It argued biology prevents women from being as successful as >men in the tech industry
It literally didn't.
Google has lost a lot of respect attacking him only re-enforces that view.
Is the optimal system of representation at an individual level? Each person is a demographic of one. Saying that you lack diversity because most employees are "white male" is the same as claiming that all black women are the same (and would be better off with more white male "diverse" perspectives) -- sure you are missing one type of diversity, but you have infinite diversity along other axes (Heritage, Southern/Northern, Conservative/Liberal, Height, Weight, Family life, College, Religion, Hobbies, Interests, Health Issues, Strengths/Weaknesses, Experience).
If you want to refute this point, then please start by demonstrating that all black women think alike, and how they might benefit from the diversity of more white men.