RantCrush Top 5: August 9, 2017

After the Google employee who sent out an anti-diversity memo was fired, a bit of a culture war has broken out in Silicon Valley. Some say Google was correct to fire him, others say the tech company went too far. Some warned that it could make him a martyr for the alt-right, and there were still others who agreed with his point of view. Now Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has offered the engineer, James Damore, a job.

1/ Censorship is for losers. @WikiLeaks is offering a job to fired Google engineer James Damore. https://t.co/tmrflE72p3

— Julian Assange 🔹 (@JulianAssange) August 8, 2017

“Women & men deserve respect. That includes not firing them for politely expressing ideas but rather arguing back,” he continued. Assange is still holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. On Monday, Damore confirmed to news outlets he had been fired for “perpetuating gender stereotypes.” The memo he sent claimed that “biological differences” explain why we see so few women in management positions in the tech world. After the memo was made public, Damore was both criticized and praised–apparently, a lot of other Google employees share his views and think the tech world is hostile to conservatives. “Anyone who deviates from the talking points of the liberal left is shunned, shamed, and forced out,” claimed Andrew Torba, CEO of social network Gab.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.