Hacker News headline “I’m the best-kept secret in tech” article HackerNews headline “It’s like the Wild West but in tech.” article HackerInfo article “We’re at the height of the internet,” wrote the late programmer James Damore, who wrote a memo about his anti-diversity views.
“It was never going to be a safe space for women.
It was never supposed to be this way.
It’s an open, open space, full of idiots.
If you’re an engineer, it’s a very open space.”
But if we’re being honest, that’s exactly what Damore’s memo did.
His memo, published on the company’s website on Wednesday, warned that some white men had been “peddling” the idea of having a diversity problem at the company, and that the memo was an attempt to “set up a narrative to discredit us”.
It’s been more than two months since the memo first hit the internet.
The memo has caused a firestorm.
It has been widely shared on social media and on Reddit.
The hashtag #theresnoonehereforyou is trending on Twitter, and many people are still unsure who was behind it.
But the message Damore is sending to white men, many of whom are already on the losing side of a divisive tech culture, has a long history.
“I am not here to defend anyone, I am not going to defend myself or defend the company.
I am just saying this because I want you to know that I have never been afraid to say anything, and I know that some of you don’t know me, but I will not stand for anyone who does,” he wrote.”
If you are reading this, I have no doubt in my mind that I am wrong.
I will say it anyway, because I believe in it, because it is true, because this is what the world needs, because we are in it together.”
The message of Damore has been echoed by many other people, who have criticised the memo.
On Reddit, one user described Damore as a “fake white knight”, while another wrote that he was a “poster child for white supremacy”.
One user who has spent time on Twitter defending Damore wrote that the message was “not an accurate reflection of my personality”.
The reaction to Damore isn’t just from white men who believe that the company has a problem with diversity.
The backlash to his memo has also come from some women.
One woman wrote on Reddit that Damore was “showing a lack of empathy towards women and minorities”.
On Twitter, a woman posted a photo of a man who appeared to be wearing a “white knight” outfit, a white-supremacist symbol.
The image quickly went viral.
The backlash is also being felt online.
Many users have questioned why the memo would be so inflammatory and if it had any bearing on the firing of top-level executives.
But in the midst of all the controversy, Damore says he is not worried.
“I have a huge amount of respect for women and women of colour.
I have worked in tech for so long.
I think there are a lot of people who do not understand that this has been going on for decades,” he said.”
When I came to work at Google I was an engineer.
This is a technology company.
It would be insane to me not to be working on it and having conversations and having these conversations with people who are on the wrong side of history.
We’ve been at this for a long time.”
Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery