Google fired a software engineer yesterday in response to public outrage over the man’s 10-page screed against women being represented proportionally in tech companies. But the firing has become a call-to-arms for alt-right voices on the internet who are crowdfunding money for the engineer, James Damore, and are now calling for a boycott of Google.
The calls for a boycott have gained steam on Twitter, where names like Mike Cernovich, Michael Tracey, and Paul Joseph Watson have joined the chorus of people with usernames like CNNisRetarded, TheMuddyCuck, and Grammar Nawtsy in being angered by what they call “diversity crybullies.”
Some of the calls to boycott the tech giant refer to getting “red pilled,” a term popular in alt-right circles for when people see reality clearly. The term comes from the 1999 sci-fi film The Matrix, where the hero takes a red pill to see the real world around him. In this case, alt-right activists believe that getting red-pilled means you can see the misandry inherent in Google’s decision to fire the engineer.
But for now, the alt-right calls for protests against Google are likely to continue, as new hashtags spring up to fight for Damore’s right to create what his former employers allege was a hostile work environment.
If these people think that Google firing an employee for passing around a sexist screed is an assault on free speech, wait until they hear what the Jeff Sessions Justice Department has in store for journalists.