Fired Google Engineer James Damore Gives His Own Account

The fired Google engineer who penned a controversial memo claiming that biological differences between men and women explain the gender imbalance in tech jobs and accusing his then-employer of being a left-leaning “echo chamber” is circulating his views to a wider audience.

James Damore, who was fired from the internet search giant on Monday over the document, is giving his account in an op-ed published Saturday in The Wall Street Journal.

#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/EaD4tKoH21

— James Damore (@Fired4Truth) August 10, 2017

“My 10-page document set out what I considered a reasoned, well-researched, good-faith argument, but as I wrote, the viewpoint I was putting forward is generally suppressed at Google because of the company’s “ideological echo chamber,” wrote Damore. “My firing neatly confirms that point.

“How did Google, the company that hires the smartest people in the world, become so ideologically driven and intolerant of scientific debate and reasoned argument?”

Damore goes on to reason that tech companies like Google are all-encompassing lifestyles for their employees, which spend a lot of time there and associate a major part of their self-identities with their jobs.

“But echo chambers also have to guard against dissent and opposition. Whether it’s in our homes, online or in our workplaces, a consensus is maintained by shaming people into conformity or excommunicating them if they persist in violating taboos,” he added.

Though the memo had circulated internally for nearly a month, Damore wrote that his firing was a direct result of the external pressures after the document was leaked to the press.

Since his termination, though, Damore has become a hero to the alt-right. “Damore’s memo and firing will be the shot heard across the tech world,” Andrew Torba, founder of the far right social media platform, Gab, told The Washington Post.

Crowdfunding platform WeSearchr launched a fundraise that raised $40,000 in a few days.

It’s a conservative hero role that the engineer himself has embraced. For his first post-firing interview, Damore chose anti-feminist YouTuber Stefan Molyneux.