Wtf are they doing over at Google?
My friend was at a Google company presentation and he said the Google staff there took about 5 minutes to introduce themselves because they all rolled out their personal pronouns and then started describing what they looked like and what they were wearing for "people with vision loss or sensory inability" or something along those lines like what Kamala Harris did the other day and got memed for.
Is this what FAANG is like nowadays? Has anyone else got to deal with stuff like this? Just seems so inefficient. When is it going to stop?
Edit: To the people making the point about "what if there was someone in the crowd who couldn't see", this was an online presentation.
Why do you give a shit tho
Because it will eventually infect the rest of the corporate world and before you know it you have to spend 5 minutes at the start of every meeting listening to people describe what they're wearing even though nobody in the meeting is blind.
Quit being a little bitch.
I’ve never heard people use that Pronoun shit in real life, and I’m surrounded by SJWs. Much less explaining what clothes you’re wearing for 5 minutes (maybe blind dude in audience)
It’s almost as if you have to purposely go out of your way, or make something up, to be outraged. OPs source is literally a “trust me bro”
The rest of the corporate world spends well over five minutes talking about absolute useless nonsense and you don't seem to complain about that. I mean, why even bother introducing yourself at a meeting when you can hand out business cards, or point and say "hey you!". That's a huge waste of time too! Or... could it be that being called by your name by your colleagues is meaningful to you, even though it serves no functional purpose? And then... wait for it.... maybe someone really cares about what their pronouns are, and it's worth it to them to make that clear, even if you think it's a waste of time.
Whoa! Imagine that!
Tbh this seems more useful than most of what gets said in meetings so who cares?
So some guy gave you a hearsay account of some presentation that sounds like the kind of thing a Fox talking head thinks about to drum up outrage during a slow news cycle and you decide "hey, this sounds like a perfectly accurate representation of what went down, lets go ask an online forum about it"?
Maybe there was a vision-impaired person in the crowd who asked them ahead of time to describe what they were wearing/doing. "Rolling out personal pronouns" takes maybe an extra 2 seconds per person, so... hardly ruining your day. Given the amount of nonsense business jargon and useless small talk used during the average financial presentation, it's crazy to me that this is what you are settling on as "inefficient". The word inefficient is already two more syllables than anyone's preferred pronouns.
The "hey you sound like Fox news" deflections are verifiably old, tired, and lazy. He's simply asking why the left is hellbent on destroying everything in their wake and ultimately creating a miserable environment for everyone.
Is this satire? If so, well done, I laughed.
If not, well... you're one of the least self-aware people I've ever encountered, so congrats on making me laugh for an entirely different reason.
Pronouns are fine because they are quick “Hi, I’m John Doe, He/Him” and be done with it but for some reason every one likes to act retarded and labor over a full “Hi my name is John Doe and I use He/Him pronouns” etc. like you’re why are you acting like you’re self announcing as a royal highness or some shit? Have no problem with the first option tbh.
Describing what you’re wearing for the visually impaired is too far imo. Not only is it inefficient but like…if someone can’t see anyway what makes you think they can imagine what you’re describing as your outfit? Like that’s peak stupidity
No, if you have a dick you do not need to say you use he/him pronouns. You sound like a fucking douchebag saying that.
And when you walk into a meeting, do you generally lay your dick on the table so folks know what to call you? What if you don't have a dick - then you have nothing to pull out, so how will people know?
You know who used pronouns? Jesus. If it's good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for you.
Die mad about it weirdo, times are changing
No, even the pronouns are not fine. Stop moving the goal posts.
Aren't you the guy who was just saying
On a thread explicitly dedicated to the concept that it's an offensive waste of time to listen to someone tell you their preferred pronouns? You can't even seem to direct your outrage in a logical direction.
What do you expect from the libs over at FAANG. Every large corporation is feeding into this garbage so they can tick the diversity box and go back to firing 20% of their staff lol.
Yep, that's big business for ya, always doing stupid shit that's bad for the bottom line.
Ever think that maybe big companies think "hey, this 'acceptance' and 'equality' stuff is bullshit, but takes no time and costs no one anything, so lets do it so we keep our employees happy and productive"? You know... the exact rationale?
Someone asking you to call them by their preferred pronouns has literally zero negative impact on you. There isn't a single fucking reason for you to be upset about this, at all. So why are you? It costs you nothing; it doesn't even really cost you time. All it does is remove just the tiniest bit of awkwardness that might arise, which is good! And yet, by the reactions on here, it's the end of the goddamn world. So with even the tiniest bit of reflection and critical thinking (not traits that conservatives are known for, I grant you) you come to obvious conclusion - that anyone pissed that one second of their day is being "wasted" by hearing someone tell them how they preferred to be addressed is probably covering for some deeper insecurity about their place in the world, and using this to lash out instead of addressing it in a healthy manner.
Lol such a bitch post
Give an inch, they take a mile. Pronouns are just the start, if you can't see that then I can't help you.
LOL at the crew of brainlet board shitlibs rushing in here to tell you to not trust your lying eyes while their mentally ill brethren infect every meaningful institution in your life with the dumbest ideology possible
Hey fucktards - the "it's just tumblr!" line worked in 2010, it doesn't work now. Your ability to gaslight people into complacency fades when they can see and feel the impact on a daily basis.
Yeah, they'll move swiftly and effortlessly from "it's not happening, you Fox News conspiracy theorist" to "it's the current year- get with the program, bigot".
Whoooooooo
caaaaaares
Will you say that when we start living in pods and eating bugs?
"Whoooo caaareees" - 🤡
This is just virtue signalling wuss-fest (and they deserve to be treated as such with their DIE bullshit). If you really want to be worried about FAANG, look up project Carnivore or AT&T room 641A or the NSA "data cemter" in Utah. Forgot the NSA's TAP (Tailored Accessed Program). All the rest of the cyber spying stuff.
Oh yea, that shit isn't news. It's even done at the regional telco level.
Pronouns are cancer, but I actually like how efficiently they signal what people are like. They're an amazing heuristic. I just got an email from my college alumni association asking me to vote for alumni reps from a list. I don't know any of the people and normally wouldn't bother looking them up, but now it's easy. Just google them, find their LinkedIn profiles, and vote against any of the ones who list their pronouns.
Very true it's a perfect litmus test on personality
What is ironic is that some for people on the right politics is their personality. For everyone on the left politics is their personality. Why do you think so many people "identify" as this or that? It is becuse they don't have personalities otherwise. Their identity is what they are.
Right wing people have hobbies whereas left wing people get all their dopamine from virtue signalling
Turned down an informational interview when I saw the John Doe (He/Him) on his LinkedIn. I don’t have time for them all day long and if you are already signaling to me that you’re a pain in the ass then you’ve saved me time cuz the answer is no.
Dude why did you mention that. I just checked and I have one scheduled for someone with that in their profile. Now I'm torn.
There's a difference between people who think pronouns are crucial / would introduce themselves conversationally with them and people who just throw it on there to go with the flow, I wouldn't look too deeply into it
I genuinely don’t understand the personal description trend that is beginning to take hold under the pretense of helping the visually impaired. I’ve listened to the radio and/or podcasts my whole life and I don’t think it has ever occurred to me to think about what the speaker is wearing.
wouldn't expect anything less from a bunch of ESG / Diversity wierdos
Based on the title to this topic, I knew it would be comprised of lots of bitching and moaning about liberals.
Ok. And...?
Because on a website comprised of intelligent people, you would think the topics about about Google would be focused on high tech innovation or employment but not on WSO. This topic about Google is a rant about liberals and what they did with 5 minutes of their time. I would like to find out about what they talked about in the rest of the meeting
You’re a reasonable guy…you have to admit that this trend is beyond stupid. When you’re listening to the radio do you stop to wonder what color suit jacket the host is wearing? I mean even if you were blind I highly doubt you would need to hear that info when the person introduces themselves.
This is why your son hates you, you actively try to destroy the world he lives in
OK? What if there was someone online who couldn't see well? In fact, it makes it more legitimate, because what if this was a recording that a blind or near-blind person would be listening to later on?
I love how you added this on, as if this was the edit to your post that made the whole thing seem reasonable all of a sudden. It's the little details like this that really show the absolute and utter lack of thought you've put into your whole reaction to this alleged incident.
bro why are u refreshing the post for updates
You wrote "edit" at the bottom. Are you serious? I guess, given the absolutely laughable take which was the topic of your post, I shouldn't be surprised.
How did we make it through 100 years of radio without the disc jockey describing his clothes, race, and pronouns for the benefit of the *checks notes* blind(?)?
Uh... are you serious? Do you listen to the radio, ever? They often talk about the completely irrelevant details of what they're wearing, doing, etc. It's unbelievable that this is the example you chose. Go listen to a baseball broadcast - when nothing is happening, of course they talk about random shit like what they're wearing. Go watch the pregame show for an NFL game; Strahan shows up wearing something gaudy and the other hosts spend a minute ribbing him about it.
The fact that you think sartorial choices never come up in radio or television broadcasts for which their details are completely irrelevant is genuinely astonishing. It's like you've never turned on a radio or TV before.
The retarded leftists in this thread acting like this shit isn't weird as fuck and has no importance when it's happening internally at quite literally one of the most powerful corporation on the planet that makes decisions that effect information flow around the globe is both hilarious an disturbing.
Why is it weird? Why does it matter that it's happening at a powerful corporation? You've got a nice word salad here but you haven't actually connected it to anything meaningful.
What, exactly, is the downside or negative consequence of announcing your preferred pronouns? You haven't even established why this is a bad thing. It's a waste of time? It takes a literal second. And if you're so concerned with wastes of your time, will you be starting a thread about how talking about the weather is the equivalent of shooting a baby in the face or something? I mean, that's a much bigger time suck, and more useless than this shit about pronouns.
Your lack of common sense and critical thinking is impressive as always. That you even ask means trying to explain would be a waste of time and effort.
What are pronouns ?
I respect everyone's liberties and they can do what they want and sleep with whoever they wish to however surgical intervention and puberty blockers for kids are appalling. In addition to that, science and academia are bending their principles and tolerating that. There has been barely any long-term research on the effect of puberty blockers on kids. It is something irrevocable and kids who might have done that under social media influence would be affected the most.
Also, people use euphemisms like capacity for pregnancy as in someone can give birth without being a biologically female homo sapien. These things should be addressed, subsequently, if someone wants to be called with certain pronouns I respect them and would try my best to use them not because I am obligated to but because I am a good person
but saying that someone except a female can give birth is ridiculous. This is the particular reason they play with the word "woman" since it is a cultural term and they avoid using biological language. I also understand the need for inclusivity in language but the left is going too far and adopting an array of self-contradicting principles
On one hand, they stand for Islam which says to stone homosexuals, and on the other hand, it is a staunch believer in LGBTQ rights
The crux of the matter is don't politicize science and don't push it on kids it is already very influenced by markets and capitalism and politicizing blurs everything and leads to lesser organic thought.
Exactly. The main problem I have is the pushing it on kids thing its legit child abuse. The main lgbt charity in the UK stonewall came out and said the other day that children as young as 2 can change their gender and nursery teachers should accomodate this. Beyond parody at this point.
You're so right about the Islam point and what's so funny to me is the left tries so hard to paint the narrative that white straight christian males are the evil of society yet from my experience by far the most anti lgbt demographic in the west is muslims. I went to a school which was like 50% muslim in the UK and these guys were insanely homophobic, I've never met white people on their level. What I personally find hilarious is whenever a liberal tries to paint me as some christian homophobe or transphobe, since I know a lot about islam I just pretend I am muslim and their tone completely changes.
This kinda stuff is why the smartest ones are leaving FAANG and joining start-ups or founding one...
Unfortunately the startup music has largely stopped. Going Google --> startup was super common, but many are trying to come back right now after startup valuations have come back to orbit
I think it'd be helpful to provide some context here as someone who actually works at Google. I'm using a burner but I'm active on WSO in a non-troll capacity
It is not rare for people to state their pronouns or do things that seem go out of their way to be hyper-inclusive, especially on the big company-wide presentations (I skipped one today so that might've been it). I haven't seen anything about describing one's outfit to blind people, am not surprised if it happened, however would be very surprised if it became common here. Just like how the vast majority of people who live in SF are not as far to the left as media portrayals would have you believe, the day-to-day working here is not some sort of right-wing parody of the left. I honestly can't recall more than 1-2 personal conversations or meetings where anybody has even introduced themselves with their pronouns
The day-to-day doesn't have anything about identities etc thrown in your face, it's just very clear that you need to accept people for who they are personally, and if that includes a pronoun then so be it. Our core products are about helping everyone in the world easily access all the information that would make their lives easier, so it's not unreasonable to think inclusivity is at the core of what the company highlights during big presentations
What I can't stand is the hypocrisy of some of the people who want to be "inclusive".
Let's be super inclusive to all the possible minority groups but let's start ostracizing and making fun of "white cis-males" and everyone who stands against their value system. I see some of that behavior here and there mostly from "white cis-males" actually....
Being inclusive is great but I get scared when I see people over-doing it and start behaving like some sort of a thought police. Many people at my work and geographical region are like that and it makes me want to leave. The "minority" who don't share these values (often themselves actually minorities in traditional ethnic, LGBTQ, neurodivergent sense) just shut up about it and pretend to share those values. Occasionally we slip some differing views here and there and you can sense the judgement in their tone and their facial expression.
It's feels to me like all these people decided to find a even more coy way of discrimination in the name of "being inclusive". There's no real concern and want to being "truly inclusive" because you can clearly tell, despite the gestures and words they have no in-depth understanding of what it's really like to be a minority in all possible ways (ethnic, sexual orientation, political, disability, etc...). They can't fathom why anyone in those minority groups won't share their views. It's like they were brainwashed to follow and chant some ideology they're not even sure what it is.
It's truly disgusting. It just fees like another version of "white men's burden" colonialists in 18-19th century used to justify imperialism.
And white cis-males have been ostracized when, exactly? We live in a world that is overwhelmingly run by, and for, white, straight, Christian men (in the USA, that is). Just like Starbucks turning their coffee cups from Christmas to winter themed somehow becoming a "war on Christmas", you seem to be viewing any threat to the established order as an attack on you, instead of an equalization of others.
Here is the difference: who you are deserves respect, what you believe does not (necessarily). One is who you are and the other is a choice. A transgender person advocating for killing every Jew they could find would be rightly excoriated.
Why are you assuming they don't know what their ideology is? And why are you assuming you are any less brainwashed? Why is it that someone who chooses a "woke" ideology of inclusivity to adhere to is "brainwashed" but someone who is religious, or who thinks the Illuminati run the world, or that the COVID vaccine doesn't work, are free thinkers or something?
You're falling into the same trap you accuse others of, which is presuming that your worldview is correct and that anyone else who differs is being hoodwinked into it. As far as I'm concerned, woke SJWs (to the extent they even exist in the real world to any extent, and not in the imaginations of conservatives) have decided to go overboard in the direction of making people feel as welcome as possible - which seems far preferable to the other direction, of making people feel as unwelcome as possible that you find on the right.
And once again, that does not extend to your political beliefs. Just because you (generically) think black people are less intelligent and more violent than white people... that isn't something others are bound to respect, because that bigotry is your choice.
Oh, yes, spending those five minutes having people tell you what they feel most comfortable being called is really the same as the mass slavery, death, and starvation visited on much of the world in that time period by Europeans. This is exactly why people accuse the transphobic of being bigots and asshats - because of statements like this. Being subjected to what is, at worst, an incredibly minor inconvenience is somehow equivalent to living through the Great Bengal Famine.
As a white cis male, at no point have I heard felt ostracized or made fun of at Google. The whole point of my post is that it isn't really like that, and that many of those types of behaviors are are fictional or exceedingly rare. People don't run around here cashing in brownie points for acting how Tucker Carlson thinks somebody from SF or big tech would act. Most people are pretty easy going
To say that Google using 5 minutes of their time to introduce themselves is inefficient, is an indication that the person has never been to a corporate meeting. From an efficiency standpoint, deviating from a corporate agenda for only 5 minutes would be considered a success. There is plenty of deviation from corporate meeting agendas. If the CEO feels like talking about his weekend and his kids activities, guess what you are going to be talking for a while?
I think some of us know the true intent is not to complain about a lack of efficiency at Google. Instead, this purpose of this topic is really to disparage LGBTQ people and complain about how corporations try to address these issues.
This is a BS take.
Those 5 minutes are usually reserved for people to build rapport and the best way to do so is by talking about personal life thay doesn't get too deep (weekend adventures, family, hobbies, etc...) because that's something that almost everyone can relate to.
Explicitly introducing your sexual orientation and your sexual identity is not part of rapport building for the vast majority. It's could be within a LGBTQ group of a company, but not the whole company because most people just don't really care that much.
Effective rapport building requires you to talk about something that the vast majority can relate to, that's why you talk about family and hobbies because almost everyone regardless of sexual orientation, identity, race, religion, politics, name another way people like to identify as nowadays, have family and hobbies.
QED
This topic is technically about efficiency at corporations. How is only spending 5 minutes on LBGQT stuff is very inefficient use of time. It is literally only 5 minutes. You could be talking about the CEO's weekend for 30 minutes. If people have work to do, no one wants to chit chatting about the CEO's weekend for a long period of time.
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