Fractures in Silicon Valley's political culture widen

New York

THE culture wars that have consumed politics in the United States have landed on Silicon Valley's doorstep.

That became clear this week after Google on Monday fired a software engineer, James Damore, who had written an internal memo challenging the Internet company's diversity efforts. The firing set off a furious debate over Google's handling of the situation, with some accusing the company of silencing the engineer for speaking his mind. Supporters of women in tech praised Google. But for the Right, it became a potent symbol of the tech industry's intolerance of ideological diversity.