As a progressive Indian American, AOC means two very different entities that I love and that taught me a lot

Annihilation of Caste
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The Congresswoman @AOC does remind me a bit of Babasaheb Ambedkar in terms of her intellectual and ideological clarity.
Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is quite literally THE most influential member of the House in this century. And the simple empirical proof is how obsessed fox news types are with her.

She shows the importance of staking out ideological positions unabashedly. And she keeps winning.
Congresswoman AOC shows a prescient long-term understanding of political activism and "marketing" that is rare.
I know people love to hate her for not being as centrist as they would like.
But her job or her role is not to appease random centrists around the world.
Dr. Ambedkar got opprobrium not too dissimilar from the Congresswoman if you read actual history.

He too was told, you are too extreme, too idealistic, too outspoken, too "theatrical" in pointing out the glaring inequalities in the Indian system.

He shrugged it off for decades
Both Ambedkar and AOC are similar in realizing that you can't influence the debate by reflexively running to the center when the other side barely recognizes your basic humanity or right to exist.

That you need to angrily yell sometimes to bring about real change.
Dr. Martin Luther King was also similarly dismissed as some fringe reactionary in his days but now we have a federal holiday for him.

If you have a solid moral compass, don't cede an inch ideologically.
Why should a man who said people should be judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character have to cede anything ideologically?
Similarly, why should a man who pointed out how entrenched caste hierarchy is in causing India's social problems ever have to care about if the Brahmin elites find his ideas extreme?

He shouldn't and he didn't.
And why should a woman who says we need a Green New Deal if we seriously want to save our planet from the fossil fuel industry's greed cede anything ideologically?

Humanity progresses when people stake out morally solid positions and don't compromise on them.
There's like at most a handful of people in the 435 strong House who stake out ideological positions loudly. Yes, they create noise sometimes.

But humanity has never progressed with polite debates.

Humanity progresses by making the elites uncomfortable and paranoid.

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More from @gauravsabnis

Mar 8
I'm old enough to remember West Bengal exit polls and also West Bengal results.
It will be interesting to see how the results pan out versus the exit polls in U.P. If you have followed Indian state elections after LS19, you'll remember that exit polls consistently overestimate BJP prospects.

Maharashtra, they were supposed to storm back to power. ImageImage
In West Bengal, they predicted a thin TMC win. Was a comprehensive rout. ImageImage
Read 42 tweets
Mar 8
I've lived in NYC for 11 years and visited it often for 5 years before that. The effect of climate change is being felt everyday every year by us. On so many parameters. In every season. Hurricanes hitting NYC were a once in two decades things. Now we get 3 a year.
Fall and spring are so erratic. The only "proper" fall we had was in 2020 and it did make us all wonder if it was because of reduced emissions. Because even winter that year was the most "normal" in a decade.

Hot days though, they keep growing. We've had 75F Christmas Eve.
Imagine that. The place you know from Home Alone 2, Miracle on 34th Street "white Christmas" had a 75F/25C Christmas. Not just once but a few times.

Gone are the days when the temperatures changed gradually. Now it goes from arctic cold to tropical humid in less than 24 hrs!
Read 16 tweets
Mar 8
Sleep is going to be fleeting until U.P. election results ngl
U.P. is mine on a personal level. I've lived there. I've loved there. U.P. is where I truly became an adult. I've traveled from Ghaziabad to Renusagar in khatara buses and smelly trains.

It's not theoretical for me. It's personal. I want my U.P. back!

I'm a proud Maharashtrian but when Maharashtra went for BJP, I wasn't really that shook. I know Maharashtra has that sanghi tendency. It's a "purple" state where hindutva was born.

But U.P.? Massive diverse chaotic loving U.P.? Going not just BJP but Bisht BJP? That shook me.
Read 7 tweets
Mar 7
Dude lived life on his own terms and knew he was lucky to get to do it. That's the lesson I take away from this. Always be grateful for your privilege every day because who knows when you die!
I still haven't fully processed Warne's untimely death. I was hoping to berate his often lazy commentary for decades trying to pressure him into being better than he was at commentary, because he was indeed better than he was at commentary.

And mate just dies?

Unfair!
As someone who obsessively watches test cricket, it was so hilariously obvious from his commentary when Warnie had a late night. 🤭🤭
He would just go to the same old wells & just rely on banter. Clearly just relying on his immense intellect to get through the day.
Read 16 tweets
Mar 7
Followers sending requests on @LinkedIn, please don't.

I'm not logging in until they do something about how it's turned into a putrid swamp of Modi worshiping Hindu supremacist agenda without any moderation or oversight.

Students stranded in Ukraine are vilified there!
I refuse to log into @LinkedIn until they come up with an clear vision on what they are going to do about the hijacking of the platform by lackeys of Prime Minister Modi.

Can't log into LinkedIn these days without some sanghi bashing some minority.

On LinkedIn!
The bizarre transmogrification of @LinkedIn from a very plain vanilla business networking site into a vehicle for pushing fascist propaganda messages Facebook style is a great demonstration of how the "growth" instinct screws up things beyond a point.
Read 12 tweets
Mar 7
For self-reference, these were engagement numbers when I posted this simple 5 word tweet yesterday.

I've posted the same one today. Let's see the numbers tomorrow.

This should be an interesting experiment.

How fascists respond to someone just saying they will lose an election. Image
Heh, just in 16 minutes, this crossed a thousand impressions and generated some anger from sanghis.

This is the state of political discourse in India.

Just saying the ruling party will lose an election is enough to outrage the ruling party. Image
Five hours in, exactly same banal tweet as yesterday. Lower engagement, no thread this time. But it's interesting to track this data.

Will do it again tomorrow. It's amazing how much such a simple banal statement upsets sanghis on Twitter. Image
Read 7 tweets

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