Today, I presented our shareholder proposal on combatting sexual harassment at the annual meeting of Alphabet in Sunnyvale, California. The resolution was opposed by the company. The text of my remarks are below this video of my presentation:
I can’t figure out why the company opposes this proposal on sexual harassment after pledging to do all it can about sexual harassment.
Well, maybe it’s because there is not an ounce of sincerity in any of the reasons Alphabet cites. The real reason is that this company, and most of the rest of corporate America, is not governed by what is in the interests of shareholders or society as a whole
Instead, it’s is governed by what the Left-wing mob demands. Alphabet will only support initiatives that advance an agenda.
In my supporting statement, I argued that more political and ideological diversity would create a more respectful workplace. I guess that was the poison pill that doomed the resolution.
I guess combating sexual harassment in the workplace is desirable only if it helps build a political movement and reinforces identity politics. It doesn’t really matter what happens to women.
You would think that the people who run this company — so rich and supposedly so powerful — would stand up to the mob. But they do not.
Witness what happened to Kay Coles James, the president of the Heritage Foundation. She was invited to serve on something called the “Advanced Technology External Advisory Council,” and then disinvited when the mob showed up with torches and rope. In fact, the people sitting up front were so freaked out that they abolished this Council altogether.
Who is Kay Coles James? She is African-American. When she was 12, she endured jeers and insults as she was one of the first black children to attend an all-white middle school in Richmond, Virginia. And she rose to the top of America’s most influential conservative institution.
How did that happen? Well, maybe it’s because Kay is a very special person.
And who did her in? Twenty five hundred Google employees. And who are they? They went to the best schools. Many are so smart that someone else paid their tuition. They make a multiple of the money made by anyone who is paid by the hour or does physical labor. Talk about privilege.
What was Kay James’ sin? Among other apostasies, she opposes the misnamed Equality Act, reflecting the views of Heritage’s 500,000 members and millions of other Americans.
Heritage was founded to promote a particular point of view. Google was not. It was founded to make money by cataloguing the world’s information. To do that, it has to be trusted by consumers. To be trusted, shouldn’t the company be carefully neutral on controversial issues?
Why does Alphabet itself have a position on this so-called Equality Act? Why does it lobby for it even though it has nothing to do with its core business?
This legislation would essentially abolish gender before the law.
Without gender there is no feminism. There’s no Title IX, meaning the end of women’s’ sports.
But that is just the start of the controversy. Just think of how will it play in other parts of the world.
And how can anyone trust Google’s search results on this topic when the company itself is a combatant in the fight over it?
In the face of widespread complaints about Google and YouTube censorship of conservatives and libertarians, the company has apparently decided to double down by demonetizing dangerous radicals like comedian Steven Crowder.
I guess Crowder really IS a threat to the management of this company. As Mark Twain said, “Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.”