The diversity memo that sent Google reeling, resulting in its author's firing from the company this week, is profoundly conventional. That the company's employees did not interpret it as such is what should really trouble people.

Google engineer James Damore was reportedly fired for "perpetuating gender stereotypes" in his now viral 10-page memo that urged the company to facilitate greater ideological diversity. The most controversial portion of the memo outlined a perspective on sex differences that argued the tech industry's staffing inequities between men and women reflected biologically- and culturally-driven preferences. Damore's take was bold for Silicon Valley, making assertions most Harvard-educated young men are well-trained to keep to themselves by his age, such as, "women on average are more prone to anxiety" and "women on average look for more work-life balance."

Those are contentions that would make any virtuous young Cambridge resident cringe.

But the memo is exceptionally fair-minded. Damore's decision to promote the existence of consequential sex differences, though the differences he outlined objectively noted the strengths and weaknesses of both men and women, left Google CEO Sundar Pichai emailing staff to say the memo suggested women "have traits that make them less biologically suited" to their work. Some argued Damore had created a "hostile work environment."

Interestingly, Damore was very careful to note it was not fair to extrapolate his overall observations to cover every individual man and woman. In fact, in his suggestions, he specifically wrote, "I'm also not saying that we should restrict people to certain gender roles; I'm advocating for quite the opposite: treat people as individuals, not as just another member of their group."

Much ink could be spilled debating various portions of the memo — an advantage we enjoy only when other people actually speak their mind. But the most important aspect of this story, as far as I'm concerned, was the reaction to the memo in the first place. We've reached a point where one group of the country's basic, fundamental beliefs about gender are so politically incorrect, so presumptively wrong and unsophisticated, to members of another group that simply bringing them into their environment is considered enough to create a hostile workplace.

Perhaps the most common response people offer to stories about political correctness and censorship on college campuses is, "Can you imagine what will happen when these students enter the workforce?"

With the Google memo, we no longer have to imagine that scenario. The well-educated, high-earning, young, coastal progressives employed by the company were so shocked by an utterly conventional expression of sex differences that a man had to be fired in order to restore peace and justice to Silicon Valley.

There will be real consequences to the ways our culture has conditioned some members of my generation. This is only the beginning.

Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.