Andrew Endymion
Aug 9, 2017 · 3 min read

“Do you honestly think this would be your conclusion if the ‘manifesto’ had argued that black people were “biologically unsuited” for engineering jobs?”

A. Nowhere did Damore argue that women are biologically unsuited for engineering jobs; he argued men and women are, on average, different and these differences may explain disparities in the tech industry and other professions. To support his arguments, he linked to research, some of which looked legitimate, other sources not so much.

Again, I do not agree with his overall argument or much of the research he cites, but the manifesto was certainly more nuanced than how it’s being reported.

B. Yes, I think this would be my conclusion regardless of the demographic targeted, provided all other things were parallel. There are many studies pinning lower mean IQ scores of African-Americans and white Americans on biology/genetics, and I reject those for similar reasons as I reject Damore’s argument. But that doesn’t mean I supported Middlebury’s treatment of Charles Murray. Much better to allow the Damores and Murrays of the world to make their arguments, be confronted by effective rebuttals and allow people to see their inferior arguments collapse. Sunlight is the best disinfectant and all that.

“Because it never ceases to amaze me that SO MANY people equate holding misogynists accountable with “poor, delicate women” needing protection from them.”

My point was not that women are delicate. My point was Google has given that impression to many and reinforced that idea, one that’s been produced by centuries of American society behaving as if it’s the case and it’s as bunk, in my opinion, as the idea that biological differences explain the aforementioned professional disparities.

“…because misogynistic actions and opinions can very objectively harm us…”

I explicitly said if there was evidence of inappropriate actions, then he should’ve been fired immediately. As for opinions, if not manifested in action, I fail to see how they can objectively harm anyone. I’ve worked with many people—mostly white males b/c of my age (38) and the industries in which I’ve worked (tech, journalism)—who I’ve thought were inferior and/or otherwise problematic, but we worked perfectly fine together until one of us moved on.

And, again, dismissing Damore’s manifesto as misogyny (which is, as I understand it, dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women) isn’t supported by the document alone:

“Of course, men and women experience bias, tech, and the workplace differently and we should be cognizant of this, but it’s far from the whole story.”

“Note, I’m not saying that all men differ from all women in the following ways or that these differences are ‘just.’ I’m simply stating that the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership. Many of these differences are small and there’s significant overlap between men and women, so you can’t say anything about an individual given these population level distributions.”

“Below I’ll go over some of the differences in distribution of traits between men and women that I outlined in the previous section and suggest ways to address them to increase women’s representation in tech without resorting to discrimination.”

“For each of these changes, we need principled reasons for why it helps Google; that is, we should be optimizing for Google — with Google’s diversity being a component of that.”

“I strongly believe in gender and racial diversity, and I think we should strive for more.”

“I hope it’s clear that I’m not saying that diversity is bad, that Google or society is 100% fair, that we shouldn’t try to correct for existing biases, or that minorities have the same experience of those in the majority.”

“I’m also not saying that we should restrict people to certain gender roles; I’m advocating for quite the opposite: treat people as individuals.”

Damore is obviously intelligent so maybe he is misogynistic and just smart enough to hide it behind appropriate rhetoric. I don’t know the guy so I have no reason not to take his words at face value. Some of the ideas and research he points to could certainly be called misogynistic, but fair-minded people sometimes exhibit prejudice just as smart people sometimes exhibit stupidity. Nobody’s perfect.

    Andrew Endymion

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    Leans to the left, but sees reason on both sides if you get beyond the leadership. Hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty are my pet peeves.