Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/05/14/report-google-ends-diversity.html
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That is unbelievable. I’ve worked for larger companies than Google and they all have diversity programs. The simple reason is that you actually have to teach some people that other human beings are also human beings.
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Now now, we can’t become radicals about this, now can we?
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You hardly need to invoke “appeasing conservatives” to know why this was ditched.
The court case was settled and this issue is no longer firing up the twitter mob, so this extended PR exercise has now done its job, and was treated as any business would treat any other bit of expenditure that wasn’t adding directly and measurably to the bottom line.
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Yes seems like a pretty dumb idea. In so far as “diversity initiatives” are just programs to counter systemic biases and prevent employees from creating legal problems. Curtailing them means inevitable valid discrimination suits. Most companies don’t adopt these things out of the goodness of their hearts. And curtailing them either means being discriminatory or allowing discrimination to happen unaddressed.
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These incredible dipshits.
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Don’t (go out of your way to rectify situations that might) be evil.
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Honestly, I have a big initiative like this at my workplace, but I don’t feel like it budged the needle much.
What budged the needle for people, if anything, was the diversity itself. Being in close contact with people not like you.
I think the program has value though. The training videos are unintentionally hilarious.
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Part of what diversity initiatives are for is to help those who make decisions related to hiring and advancement to recognize how unconscious biases might influence the process and take steps to counter those biases.
More diverse hiring = more people in close contact with others who are not like them.
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Strange to put a stock image for “most punchable face” at the top of this story, rather than the person invo-
Oh.
Yeah, funny how advocating for diversity is automatically anti-conservative, huh? Very weird.
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Do Evil, period, full stop.
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Racism pays. This is America after all.
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And yet it has been shown over and over again that diversity does add to the bottom line if only corps could be arsed to actually try and find a way to measure it. But it’s too hard and it upsets those in charge by making them feel insecure, so they don’t try.
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Just like this: (Do read beyond the headline - the article is short and makes a very specific point about the effect of “working with people (women) not like you (men)”)
ETA if anyone wants more data points to support various ‘liberal’ positions against the arguments of the fuckwits on the right,Torsten Bell is worth checking out more widely. But his focus is very UK-oriented
His Guardian articles ref research findings are a good start and nearly all are very short and pithy.
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To me, this is less about humanity than equality. There are those with power and privilege who don’t want to share it with anyone who isn’t like them. They resent anything that involves consideration or support of others, because it might threaten their control or prevent them from getting what they want.
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*Gandhi.
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Since no corp does anything for any reason other than “to make money” (or at least “to not lose money”), my immediate question is “how does this make Google money”?
I can’t think of an answer, so I went with “how does this stop Google from losing money” and suddenly many answers became possible.
I’m not thinking any conservative voice could meaningfully threaten them, so my guess is so that some future legislation helps them (or doesn’t hinder them).
Ads and data mining. They are extremely profitable. Just ask Facebook. Another reason to use Ublock Origin. Almost no ads and it does at least something to mitigate the latter. Altho I do kinda miss those text side ads in gmail as one I got was: “Glory holes? You can find them on Amazon!” I am not joking.
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That’s a great point. Maybe it’s really more about teaching empathy. I’ve met a lot of people who were just unable or unwilling to try to imagine being in someone else’s position.
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Uhm, spreading contagion if all the trainees are crowded together in a classroom and lack proper PPE? No, too much of a stretch.
The specific bad thing that would happen is that the likes of Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson would dip their poisoned pens into the inkwell and blot Google’s name with slander. Same as they do with everyone else except for the Orange One, every time they’re on the air - so that’ll happen whether Google cancels or continues the training. So no, that’s not “as a result” either.
Sorry, I can’t come up with an answer that makes sense. But I suppose that nothing needs to make sense any more.
