Silicon Valley fanatics don’t realize that they live in a diverse country. From CNN:

Hundreds of Google employees are demanding the company remove the president of conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation from a newly formed council meant to advise the company on the responsible usage of artificial intelligence.

A group of employees calling itself Googlers Against Transphobia said in a post to the website Medium on Monday that by appointing Heritage’s president Kay Coles James to the council, Google is “making clear that its version of ‘ethics’ values proximity to power over the wellbeing of trans people, other LGBTQ people, and immigrants.”

Heritage has openly opposed LGBT rights. And the group of Google (GOOG) employees pointed out several recent Twitter posts where James criticized proposed federal legislation such as the Equality Act, which aims to halt discrimination based on gender identity, sex and sexual orientation. On Twitter, James called the bill “anything but equality” and said it would “open every female bathroom and sports team to biological males.”

Good lord, she’s Hitler in a skirt!

Read the whole thing.

Here’s a link to the petition. Excerpt from it:

Following the announcement, the person who took credit for appointing James stood by the decision, saying that James was on the council to ensure “diversity of thought.” This is a weaponization of the language of diversity. By appointing James to the ATEAC, Google elevates and endorses her views, implying that hers is a valid perspective worthy of inclusion in its decision making. This is unacceptable.

“Diversity of thought” is unacceptable. To actually practice viewpoint diversity is to “weaponize” diversity. These fanatics don’t even know what James’s position on artificial intelligence is, but they know how she feels about the Equality Act, which is the only thing that matters to them. Not all of the (now over 1,000) signatories are employees of Google, and are certainly not all are transgender. But all of them believe that the fact that Kay Coles James doesn’t accept transgender ideology disqualifies her from offering opinion on anything — even things that have nothing to do with transgenderism.

Whether or not James is a good choice for this project because of her knowledge (or lack thereof) of artificial intelligence issues is a completely separate issue. The Googlers do not even attempt to make an argument on that point. For them, it’s entirely about “transphobia”.

I don’t understand why more people aren’t alarmed by this. What kind of movement is it that attempts to deny the presence and validity of anybody that holds an opinion contrary to their own? Disagree with them, and they will try to make you a nonperson. They do this in part by construing opposition to their political and cultural views with danger to their “wellbeing.”

These are not shelf-stockers at the local Walmart. These are people working in an industry that has, and will continue to have, extraordinary influence over all of our lives, in ways we can barely conceive. And they think social and religious conservatives are so dangerous and disgusting that they should be erased from public life, and the discussions about this technology that is going to change the future of the human race.

Remember the Law of Merited Impossibility: It will never happen, and when it does, you bigots will deserve it.