James Damore, the infamous ex-Google engineer who was fired in August after writing a multipage, anti-diversity memo, is back at it again. (Though with Damore, “it” could mean so many things. It could mean praising the KKK for having “cool” titles. It could mean comparing being a conservative at Google to being gay in the 1950s. It could also mean choosing to do your first in-depth interview with an alt-right YouTuber.) Today, Damore and his attorney, Harmeet Dhillon — Dhillon is a civil-rights attorney who is also the National Committeewoman of the Republican National Committee for California — announced that they are suing Google for discrimination against conservative, white men.
The suit claims that Google uses “extreme” and “illegal” practices to keep these dudes down. It’s not a totally surprising filing given Damore filed a federal labor complaint last year and began working with Dhillon during August 2017 on “fact gathering” — looking for other white dudes who felt wronged by Google — for what would eventually become today’s complaint. The document comes in at over 150 pages, so let us save you a little bit of reading — you can find the whole mess here if you’re feeling ambitious — and share a few of the, uh, more interesting things it contains.
Google’s persona non grata list includes a number of alt-right personalities.
Mencius Moldbug, a.k.a. Curtis Yarvin was reportedly escorted from Google’s campus while visiting a friend for lunch because his name “triggered” a silent alarm. Others on Google’s reported blacklist include Alex Jones of Infowars, and Vox Day, a.k.a. Theodore Beale. After a Google employee asked if the men could be taken off of the list, HR allegedly changed the system so that employees couldn’t access the blacklist anymore.
Google apparently has it out for straight couples, but furries are welcome.
“Google furnishes a large number of internal mailing lists catering to employees with alternative lifestyles, including furries, polygamy, transgenderism, and plurality discussing sexual topics,” reads the complaint. (Note the use of the term transgenderism, which, well, isn’t how anybody in 2018 should be talking about the transgender community.) “The only lifestyle that seems to not be openly discussed on Google’s internal forums is traditional heterosexual monogamy.” This section of the complaint also references a presentation from an employee who identifies as “a yellow-scaled wingless dragonkin” and another who identifies as “an expansive ornate building.”
At least one of Damore’s former co-workers received a bonus for speaking out against his memo.
As per an email screenshot documented in the complaint, one of Damore’s colleagues received a “peer bonus” for “speaking up for googley values and promoting [diversity and inclusion] in the wretched hive of scum and villainy that is [Damore’s Memo].” Peer bonuses are given by fellow employees, but have to be approved by Google’s “Recognition Team.” Damore also received threatening emails while still at the company, “You’re a misogynist and a terrible person. I will keep hounding you until one of us is fired. Fuck you,” wrote one of Damore’s fellow engineers.
White men at Google are booed just for being white men at Google.
“Not only was the numerical presence of women celebrated at Google solely due to their gender, but the presence of Caucasians and males was mocked with ‘boos’ during company-wide weekly meetings.”
“We look forward to defending against Mr Damore’s lawsuit in court,” said a Google spokesperson when asked for comment.
