A poll question posed by Twitter has ignited social-media outrage at James Damore, the Google employee fired earlier this summer for questioning whether gender discrimination was a problem at the tech giant.
“The KKK is horrible and I don’t support them in any way, but can we admit that their internal title names are cool, e.g. ’Grand Wizard’?” asked Mr. Damore in a Wednesday tweet. He gave poll respondents four options: “Yes”; “No, the names aren’t cool”; “No, that’s racist”; and “No, other.”
Mr. Damore’s question was promptly met with both derision and outright condemnation.
“Seriously? Why not call out Nazi military titles as ’cool’ too?” asked Mohammad Shouman, a D.C. attorney. “Congratulations for attracting the scum of the earth to your feed,” Mr. Shouman added in another tweet.
“So is this just what you do now” another incredulous user asked.
Mr. Damore, though, seemed undeterred, tweeting a few more times to argue his case.
“You know you’ve moralized an issue when you can’t criticize its heroes or acknowledge any positive aspect of its villains,” he added. “It’s like teaching your child to be responsible about drugs and sex without addressing the fact that they can be fun.
“If you make the actual KKK the only place where you can acknowledge the coolness of D&D terms, then you’ll just push people into the KKK,” he concluded.
“Keep tweeting, James. You’re doing great. Tweet through it,” deadpanned Parker Molloy of Upworthy in reply.
As of the writing of this article, just 29 percent of poll’s nearly 21,000 respondents have answered “yes” to Mr. Damore’s question.
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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