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Comment by duxup | Hacker News Reader

>will be reassigned to a STEM research role

Not fired, just reassigned.

I'm ok with that as a policy. Presumably he isn't ok with those old statements and can move on.

At the same time the folks who need to post some general statements about a whole group of people, religion, or whatever ...

As far as I can remember I've never felt a reason to talk about a whole category of people and "insatiable appetite for war and killing“ or "increasing insensitivity to the suffering [of] others".

I don't get it.

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> Not fired, just reassigned.

I don't even get how that's gonna work. Inevitably, he'll work alongside/under/oversee Jewish colleagues. That'll be an awkward Hangouts meeting. "Oh hey there's the guy that thinks I'm violent, I wonder if he'll judge my work/team interaction impartially..."

It was a post from 14 years he's apologized for. I'm sure everyone has plenty of beliefs from 14 years ago that no longer fits their current beliefs.

True, but it seems like most aren't given a second chance like he was.

> most aren't given a second chance like he was.

Most are almost never put in a position where things they've done or said over a decade ago is put under a spotlight. You have to be in a specific position, and have people specific want to take you down in the first place. Why do you think this specific post from 14 years ago happens to have been brought up now?

But if Google thought he was now benign, wouldn't he just remain at the post? Moving him to a different department seems to indicate that Google think he did wrong, but not that much wrong as to fire him. I'm not sure how to reconcile that.

Isn't there space in the sense that "this role isn't right for you because you did a thing" and "let's try here"?

They want him to quit.

It's just a bad look specifically for the head of DEI, who's whole job is to promote diversity. If it was any other position they probably wouldn't have cared.

I think there is some leeway in the sense that

"If you're going to work with other people, some of them will probably at some time possibly, or you might even know about, something bad they said that might apply to you."

At that point the question is how that gets worked out. If the other person has since apologized, and it was a long time ago, then I don't think it's too much to ask that other folks maintain a professional relationship / work with such people.

Not just Jewish, but also gay people. His other blog posts talk about how he is completely disgusted by homosexuality and wants nothing to do with it.

Reassigned? Lol. He was already on the roof.

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