Google has already booted off James Damore, the employee who authored and distributed a highly controversial manifesto on gender diversity to colleagues, but it appears a new force has chimed in to advance his cause: The alt-right.
“Sympathetic” right-wingers have created a crowdfunding campaign seeking to raise $60,000 “for the financial and potentially legal assistance of [the] former senior Google engineer.” The funds will further be used to support Damore while he reviews his legal case against the company and explores new employment.
The campaign is hosted on right-wing-leaning crowdfunding platform WeSearchr. It was directly initiated by the WeSearchr Staff, which has previously collected funds to sponsor an inclusive interview with Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman and an investigation to prove that French President Emmanuel Macron is gay.
This ought to give you a sense of the type of individuals we are dealing with here.
Headed by a 30-minute video rant from notorious alt-right personality Stefan Molyneux, the campaign takes aim at “the radical Left” for what it deems an organized witch hunt against “independents, libertarians, conservatives, and simple contrarians.”
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
“When the Left gets someone fired, it’s our duty to get that person back up on their feet and stronger and more secure than ever,” the description reads. “If we don’t, then we’re next.”
At the time of writing, the James Damore Official Fundraiser has accumulated almost $2,700 from a total of 44 contributors. All WeSearchr campaigns have a year to reach their “minimum required” sum.
In case raised funds are never used for their intended purpose, WeSearcher has a policy to return all remaining contributions to their respective owners.
For more context, the wildly disputed screed suggested the discrepancy between the amount of male and female software engineers at the company stems from “innate” biological differences. When Damore eventually decided to share the divisive document internally with colleagues, it quickly went viral, attracting the attention of both insiders and outsiders.
Following coverage from the media, Google’s newly appointed Vice President of Diversity, Integrity and Governance Danielle Brown came out excoriating the now-sacked software engineer for advancing “incorrect assumptions about gender.”
The sentiment was further mirrored by CEO Sundar Pichai who echoed Brown’s assertion that Damore “crossed the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.”
Those who wish to stand behind Damore and his views… I guess you know what to do.
Those who seek to hold WeSearchr accountable for backing up an individual promulgating misguided gender notions can aim their criticism at their Twitter account here… Ah, hold on, it has already been suspended. One can only wonder why.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.