What I read about Damore disturbed me. He was punished for his memo because he suggested there are biological differences between men and women make women less likely to be good at IT. I personally wouldn’t do that, but I think firms should be free to set their own speech standards. As long as those standards are symmetric[^1], it’s something I dislike but do not think is morally impermissible. But the response does not seem to have been symmetric. People who wrote to Darmore internally and threatened him or insulted him were not punished or fired. He was. This seems wrong.
Then again, I don’t have clear evidence on the matter. Digging into it more, I find that some employees who posted insulting things about him were punished by HR. Reality isn’t as black and white as it first appears.
It’s scary how easy it is to fall into stories or narratives which vindicate existing beliefs. I feel like i want to believe Damore was punished unjustly and silenced, that google was being unfair, That feeling is wrong. I don’t have the evidence to make that kind of judgement.
I continue to believe that anti-white discrimination at large tech firms is bad, but I don’t know if their treatment of Damore was unfair.
[^1]: Symmetric bans are those which affect both sides of the discussion equally. So banning discussion of an election is okay. Banning discussion of one party in said election but allowing other parties is not okay.
Dissent 