by Matt Novak
Gizmodo
Google fired a software engineer yesterday in response to public outrage over the man’s 10-page screed against women being represented proportionally in tech companies. But the firing has become a call-to-arms for alt-right voices on the internet who are crowdfunding money for the engineer, James Damore, and are now calling for a boycott of Google.
The calls for a boycott have gained steam on Twitter, where names like Mike Cernovich, Michael Tracey, and Paul Joseph Watson have joined the chorus of people with usernames like CNNisRetarded, TheMuddyCuck, and Grammar Nawtsy in being angered by what they call “diversity crybullies.”
Some of the calls to boycott the tech giant refer to getting “red pilled,” a term popular in alt-right circles for when people see reality clearly. The term comes from the 1999 sci-fi film The Matrix, where the hero takes a red pill to see the real world around him. In this case, alt-right activists believe that getting red-pilled means you can see the misandry inherent in Google’s decision to fire the engineer.
http://twitter.com/CNNisRetarded/status/894763228684632064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894763228684632064%26autosize%3D1
http://twitter.com/FashNova/status/894760650890551296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894760650890551296%26autosize%3D1
Others on Twitter have been brainstorming alternatives for Google services, which can be a rather daunting challenge for people who have bought into the Google eco-system. Duck Duck Go and Bing have been floated as good alternatives for search, while Vid.me has been held up as a good alternative to YouTube. Google, of course, owns YouTube.
Diversity refers only to externally visible things, obviously. Difference of opinion is not tolerated. @Google #BoycottGoogle. Use @bing.
— (((Ed Moran))) (@EdMoran1964) August 8, 2017
http://twitter.com/TheMuddyCuck/status/894775082450538499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894775082450538499%26autosize%3D1
http://twitter.com/FigmentsB/status/894788798550233088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894788798550233088%26autosize%3D1
Some of the most caustic voices have said that “only Jews use” Google now.
GO FK OFF FROM MY LIFE! HAHAH Cry baby. U loss more “Normal” people.
Now only Jews use u.#GoogleManifesto #boycottgoogle
— Schweighof BFF?? (@EastDeutscherEl) August 8, 2017
Others seemed to claim that Google was a Nazi-like organization, replacing the O’s in the Google logo with swastikas.
http://twitter.com/Pheenix111/status/894789918114942976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894789918114942976%26autosize%3D1
Others were more direct in their accusations, saying that Nazis literally run Google.
http://twitter.com/WalterW11819415/status/894784804075393024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894784804075393024%26autosize%3D1
Plays on the Google name like “Guulag” have also popped up.
http://twitter.com/AceRimmerTwitte/status/894856233026322433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894856233026322433%26autosize%3D1
Popular alt-right conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich has added to calls that Google become at least 50 percent Republican, saying that political affiliation should “be a protected class under anti-discrimination laws.”
http://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/894834673251168256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894834673251168256%26autosize%3D1
Cernovich has even proposed that the US Department of Justice demand to see what kind of political affiliation exists at every company and enforce some kind of quota. At least I think that’s what he’s calling for since tech companies themselves aren’t registered as political parties.
http://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/894834866000347137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894834866000347137%26autosize%3D1
Journalist Mike Tracey, who was viciously assaulted by US Representative Maxine Waters in an infamous video, chimed in to say that he hopes the workplace environment at Google is as “unpleasant as possible.”
I personally hope Google's workplace environment is as unpleasant as possible
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) August 8, 2017
Others claimed that Google was simply too big and that any boycott of the company would be ineffective.
http://twitter.com/PatrioticNeko/status/894859268528242688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894859268528242688%26autosize%3D1
http://twitter.com/victorymonk/status/894842818014846976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894842818014846976%26autosize%3D1
But frankly the alt-right isn’t filled with the smartest people on the internet. Some have called for campaigns to contact Google’s advertisers, a move that has been attempted in the past by those affiliated with Gamergate.
http://twitter.com/ThothMRM/status/894816947958886400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-894816947958886400%26autosize%3D1
Google doesn’t have advertisers in the same way that a newspaper would, obviously. They facilitate the sales of ads and basically own the entire market online. But again, these aren’t the brightest people around.
WikiLeaks has taken up the software engineer’s cause, claiming that the firing was censorship and offering to hire James Damore.
1/ Censorship is for losers. @WikiLeaks is offering a job to fired Google engineer James Damore. https://t.co/tmrflE72p3
— Defend Assange Campaign (@DefendAssange) August 8, 2017
It’s not clear what kind of job Julian Assange has offered Damore, nor whether the two have been in contact.
The same company that fires people for advocating ideological diversity owns YouTube.
RIP free speech.#JeSuisJamesDamore
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) August 8, 2017
But for now the alt-right calls for protests against Google are likely to continue, as new hashtags spring up to fight for Damore’s right to create what his former employers allege was a hostile work environment.
If these people think that Google firing an employee for passing around a sexist screed is an assault on free speech, wait until they hear what the Jeff Sessions Justice Department has in store for journalists.
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http://gizmodo.com/alt-right-activists-call-for-google-boycott-after-emplo-1797623429