Google CEO Right After Firing Engineer: ‘People Must Be Free To Express Dissent’

[WestVirginiaRebel]

A day after Google fired an employee who wrote a lengthy memo blasting the company’s diversity policies, CEO Sundar Pichai wrote his own missive Tuesday saying that “people must feel free to express dissent.”

“First, let me say that we strongly support the right of Googlers to express themselves, and much of what was in that memo is fair to debate, regardless of whether a vast majority of Googlers disagree with it,” Pichai wrote. “However, portions of the memo violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.”

The seemingly contradicting statements and actions coincide with another memo from Google’s vice president of diversity, integrity and governance, who wrote that everyone must “feel safe sharing their opinion,” according to Motherboard.

James Damore, the engineer who wrote the 10-page memo to employees and was subsequently terminated, asserted that the tech giant’s diversity initiatives were wrong. The document, which Motherboard first reported and Gizmodo obtained, was circulated throughout Google, much to the offense of many people both within and outside of the company.

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Now he tells us...