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Comment by retube | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand why it's such big news. No matter what's in it, it's just some random guy who happens to work at google. It's not a senior exec, it's not an official google position, it's.... nothing. I just don't understand why what this guy thinks warrants discussion?

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It's not about the guy. It's about what he said. And what he said is highly polarizing.

But anyone can say or write something idiotic and inflammatory (just for the sake of argument, let's assumed that the memo was such), would it have become this huge thing if he didn't work at Google? If not, then why is Google placed on such a pedestal and why do we lionize and in turn pillory Googlers? I think part of the problem is the place Google occupies in the popular imagination. It's sort of this lightning rod and poster child of Silicon Valley. Had this happen at most company, it would have simply been an HR issue at that company.

It sparkled a discussion because it wasn't idiotic. It makes sense and it causes cognitive dissonance among certain parts of the population.

It sparked a discussion with many participants inside Google (which is a huge company) and outside. The news was mostly related to the size of the group discussing it and then circled back to "what will the company execs do"

for liberals, it reinforces preconceived notion in tech.

and also because the media has lots of power.

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