When you think about it, it was conservatives’ fault that Google engineer James Damore was sacked for contributing to an internal message board Google set up for soliciting ideas and feedback on its diversity initiatives. After all, conservatives champion the kind of at-will employment laws that prevail in California, and Damore therefore could expect little latitude to criticize his own company. If only you would grant unions or appropriate federal mandates to govern these relationships, you wouldn’t have to fear being a conservative at the workplace. So I’m told, at least.

To my ears though, this argument reminds me of a much older and fatter brother sitting on your chest and banging your own hands across your face. “Stop hitting yourself,” he says as he laughs. It’s a bully’s taunt.

The order of events went something like this. A month ago, Damore contributed his memo, which includes chapter headings like “Non-discriminatory ways to reduce the gender gap,” to a board set up for employee ideas for promoting diversity. He also submitted it to an internal listserv for skeptics, asking for comment. It was from here that it went semi-viral within the company.