{"id":234300,"date":"2017-08-12T20:16:21","date_gmt":"2017-08-13T00:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/uncategorized\/their-view-google-memo-is-not-a-free-speech-issue-wilkes-barre-times-leader.php"},"modified":"2017-08-12T20:16:21","modified_gmt":"2017-08-13T00:16:21","slug":"their-view-google-memo-is-not-a-free-speech-issue-wilkes-barre-times-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/freedom-of-speech\/their-view-google-memo-is-not-a-free-speech-issue-wilkes-barre-times-leader.php","title":{"rendered":"Their view: Google memo is not a free speech issue &#8211; Wilkes Barre Times-Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p><p>    Ive reached a very important conclusion about white men, and    Ill get to that soon enough, but first, please repeat after    me: Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.  <\/p><p>    Say it again. And again. And if youre one of those aggrieved    white guys out there harboring the odd misconception that your    voice is being unfairly stifled by political correctness, say    it 15 more times, because it just doesnt seem like this    concept has sunk in.  <\/p><p>    Consider this weeks firing of a white, male Google employee    who published a 10-page memo about diversity on an internal    company forum. The software engineer used 3,000-or-so wholly    unnecessary words to claim that there are fewer women in the    tech industry because of biological causes and that diversity    programs increase race and gender tensions.  <\/p><p>    The memo is riddled with sexist stereotypes poorly supported by    scientific references that are, at best, dodgy. And it contains    repeated statements that the author is all for diversity, is    not sexist and eschews stereotypes  statements proven    false by the aforementioned poorly supported sexist    stereotypes.  <\/p><p>    The engineers MANifesto also slams Google for not being a    friendly place for conservatives, which is odd because    conservatives spend a good bit of their time mocking the idea    of safe spaces.  <\/p><p>    He writes: Alienating conservatives is both non-inclusive and    generally bad business because conservatives tend to be higher    in conscientiousness, which is require (sic) for much of the    drudgery and maintenance work characteristic of a mature    company.  <\/p><p>    So the dude who doesnt believe in stereotypes claims    conservatives are more conscientious than everyone else.    Perfect.  <\/p><p>    If you care to read the full memo, you can find it online,    though youll likely sprain an ocular muscle rolling your eyes.  <\/p><p>    My take  as a white, male who, for whatever reason, is    not part of the aggrieved brommunity  is that the Google    engineers word barf is insufferable, unquestionably insulting    to women (and pretty much any non-white person) and the epitome    of white, male privilege. And with all that said, he    absolutely, without question, had every right in the world to    write what he wrote.  <\/p><p>    Just like Google had every right to fire his white, male butt    for, I assume, violating all manner of company standards and    for just being an all-around turd. (I wouldve fired him    just for thinking anyone would want to read a 10-page memo in    the first place.)  <\/p><p>    There will surely be legal action, and maybe hell wind up    prevailing. But Google was right to can him, and that canning    isnt an attempt to curtail his freedom of speech.  <\/p><p>    He can say or write whatever he wants. But the things he says    and writes might come with consequences, particularly when    hes sharing his words on an internal company forum.  <\/p><p>    This isnt a First Amendment issue. The government isnt    interfering with anybodys right to free speech. Still, many    white guys have rushed to the Google bros defense, crying    about how put upon they are because theyre never allowed to    speak their minds.  <\/p><p>    If you are a white guy in America, you are not put upon. And if    you feel put upon, its because you cant be bothered to put    yourself in another persons shoes for half a minute and try to    understand what being put upon actually looks like.  <\/p><p>    If youre griping about political correctness, youre really    saying youre annoyed because you cant be flip with your    language and say things that might offend other people.  <\/p><p>    The pros and cons and the implementation of diversity programs    can and should certainly be discussed openly, but a    self-righteous screed thats blind to anyone elses point of    view isnt a discussion. Its a white guy mansplaining to    female and non-white coworkers how diversity should work, and    the very existence of that kind of thinking is why companies    need diversity training.  <\/p><p>    Its not a liberal or a conservative concept. Its a human    concept, one that only requires the humility to acknowledge    that you might not understand what its like to be another    person.  <\/p><p>    Now let me get to the conclusion promised at the beginning of    this column. This may prove controversial, but Im sure my    fellow white men will agree that I have every right in the    world to share this conclusion, because white-dude thoughts are    always worth sharing: White men are not biologically suited to    writing memos about diversity.  <\/p><p>    They are too neurotic and tend to perform better in bubbles in    which their sense of dominance is reinforced by other neurotic    white men. They also tend to be overly emotional,    particularly when fired for writing diversity memos, and can    become hysterical when held accountable.  <\/p><p>    This is not to say I am opposed to diversity in diversity memo    writing. White men are capable of working in supporting roles,    possibly supplying a companys more biologically qualified    women or people of color with printer paper, or perhaps    procuring coffee for them while they write sensible diversity    memos.  <\/p><p>    But attempts to encourage white men to write diversity memos is    clearly social engineering run amok. We must respect the    differences in our DNA and the skill sets our biology have    clearly predetermined.  <\/p><p>    Lets stay in our lanes, shall we?  <\/p><p>      <a href=\"http:\/\/timesleader.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/web1_Rex-Huppke.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/timesleader.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/web1_Rex-Huppke.jpg<\/a>    <\/p><p>  Rex Huppke is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Readers may  email him at   [emailprotected].<\/p><p><!-- Auto Generated --><\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/53e8aa1fcfHuppke.jpg-117x150.jpg\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/p><p>View original post here:<\/p><p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/timesleader.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/671358\/their-view-google-memo-is-not-a-free-speech-issue\" title=\"Their view: Google memo is not a free speech issue - Wilkes Barre Times-Leader\">Their view: Google memo is not a free speech issue - Wilkes Barre Times-Leader<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Ive reached a very important conclusion about white men, and Ill get to that soon enough, but first, please repeat after me: Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. Say it again. And again.  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/freedom-of-speech\/their-view-google-memo-is-not-a-free-speech-issue-wilkes-barre-times-leader.php\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[388391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-freedom-of-speech"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}