The Emissary Profile picture
Jan 15, 2023 13 tweets 3 min read Read on X
There is a churn happening in American society surrounding one of its most successful minorities - Indian Americans.

Gas station owners & Dunkin Donuts clerks are now transitioning into Tech CEOs & politicians at an alarming rate for some folks.

A backlash is forming 🧵
I'll preface this by saying an overwhelming amount of Americans seem to either admire or pay no special mind to Indian Americans.

The issue is at the edges of the political spectrum: Among the far-right and far-left.
The Far-Right cannot fathom how a country with an average of 82 IQ is pumping out people who are now their bosses and in leadership positions.

Their image of India is of subhuman folks shitting in streets, worshiping animals, and usual pejoratives towards heathen brown folks.
"You will not replace us!" is now being extended to Indian Americans. There is a genuine fear of seeing brown people, those they consider genetically & inherently inferior to them, outcompete them.

How jarring must it be to have people who you see as inferior, overtake you?
So they cope by labeling every successful Indian as a privileged Brahmin no matter their original class or caste.

Right Wingers who lambast the NYT & WP for being woke brainwashing camps will immediately believe & cite them when these papers attack India and Indian Americans.
This brings us to the other end, & an end that is much more broad & influential: the Far Left.

The Far Left has huge institutional heft across media, academia, NGOs, etc... They are the Cathedral.

And they despise these uppity Indian Americans who defy their archetypal minority
In the face of "crushing white supremacy," Indian Americans have become the highest-earning ethnic group (not counting Jewish Americans)

They also, unlike many other ethnic groups, provide a visible challenge in professions that white liberals dominate - tech, law, medicine, etc
They have broken the bamboo ceiling & are planting seeds at the top with kids who are also excelling.

They beat them in school admissions even in the face of affirmative action that actually now helps whites. Indian parents challenge the attack on meritocracy in grade schools.
Many are members of a religion that has historical issues with the far left's favorite religion, Islam. And they share that religion, Hinduism, with homeland Indians who keep voting in a government that claims to wear Hinduism on their sleeve in the face of Islamic extremism.
To top it all off, the Far Left has many Indian Americans who are willing to throw their own under the bus. They want to "out White Liberal" the White Liberals so they attack fellow Indian Americans.

Many Indian Americans, just like many Indians themselves are race traitors.
They pan on about "caste discrimination" amongst kids who can't even pronounce their own names right, they guilt other Indian Americans about "privilege" when many of their immigrant parents came here with nothing, they trash India & Indians for social proof & cred.
Both groups are threatened by Indian American success, prominence, & defiance of the usual archetype of a minority: being either visibly oppressed, visibly meek, or especially - visibly inferior

The Indian American seizes the American Dream. Something they absolutely can't stand
Stupidest responses to above thread are about privilege

Conveniently ignored is much of Indian immigration from the 60s-90s was via chain

Many of these folks came from objectively worse economic backgrounds than the poorest Americans & are literally stunted due to malnutrition.

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More from @TheEmissaryCo

May 11
Many are disappointed with the ceasefire, including me, but I think we need to zoom out (& zoom in via satellites) to really get a handle on what the latest Indo-Pak conflict means for 🇮🇳

🧵

PS - Sunrise at 3:15 AM in Pakistan really captures what we should focus on. Image
Strategically, India has gone far beyond what most would assume, especially in the shadow of cowardice that gripped India pre-Uri/Balakot.

India unleashed its vaunted missile arsenal, wreaked havoc with drones, & resolutely defended the skies via its air force & especially its air defense systems - the latter of which proved to be a surprise prize winner amongst the lot, especially considering how much of it was indigenously made.Image
What should be certainly appreciated more is the sheer depth of Indian penetration in Pakistan while the reverse was rendered almost completely null by India's stellar air defense systems.

Beyond the surreal videos of missile strikes, we are seeing satellite images & amateur stills & clips of the aftermath.Image
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Read 10 tweets
Apr 25
The best part of the idea of 'India being a COLONIAL construct' coming to fore is that we can debunk this in the open.

Here are a list of ancient names for India from across the world 🇮🇳🌍🧵 Image
In this case, I will refer to strict subcontinental boundaries at inception, so I will skip Āryavarta in the Vedas & go directly to Bhārata - named after all-conquering King Bharata.

Here's an emphatic declaration from the Vishnu Purana. You cannot argue with geography... Image
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Jambudvīpa, the Island of the Jambu (Indian blackberry) tree, is found across ancient literature as well.

The below excerpt shows how subcontinental the idea really was as the extreme south is directly correlated with extreme north for pilgrims.

Read 10 tweets
Apr 23
A few thoughts on the (geo)political ramifications of the Pahalgam Massacre: Image
Firstly, we have to start with Pakistan. There was local support in Kashmir, but the signs point to Pakistani involvement whether via the actual terrorists (a couple have already been ID'ed as Pakistani) or just clandestine support from the Pakistani state.

If you look at it from their angle, this is a great time to pull this off. Whether Pakistanis are seen as strong-willed or numb, they've endured massive economic stress which now seems to be cooling. Simultaneously, Baloch & Pashtun lands have seen much more militant attacks recently. For the Pak Army, there's no better time to unite the Pakistani people via provoking India than now.

They won't seem desperate due to economy not being the *worst* it could be (while still being bad). And also they can rally around alleged Indian involvement in Balochi & Pashtun areas.Image
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For India, it is an interesting situation to say the least. The economy is doing good, but could be doing better - much better in fact. Reforms are coming via state and some backend central moves (that may materialize or not) but for the centre, there is a looming notion of pulling the trigger of reform and going head to head with anti-development forces, something that could definitely result in electoral defeats and power loss.

This is a double-edged sword here. On one hand, Modi could use a riled up populace to sneak in reforms on the down low. On the other, it could be seen as too opportunistic in a time where he should be doing more to address the issue of Kashmir/Pakistan. Nonetheless, the initial diplomatic silo has been a solid and uncharacteristically quick first move. Keep an eye on how uniform the condemnation has been from the West & Gulf countries, this may play a role in further long term beyond military action like economic or diplomatic isolation that could bleed Pakistan over the years.

Kashmir has had issues recently with terror attacks, but it is relatively much more stable than pre-370 and easily much better than high octane periods like the 90s. Tourism and investments were rising. For local separatists, this wasn't a good situation. They do not want locals to let go of their very real religious bigotry & ethnic animus towards Hindus & Indians just for a couple of rupees. This attack in coordination with Pakistan helps kill the money train & slow motion normalization (some may say futile normalization).Image
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Read 4 tweets
Feb 2
The India They Saw - Vol 4: 18th-19th Centuries

Our final segment: 🇮🇳 at the eve of colonization was a sight to behold for adventurous Europeans.

The prize of the world attracted missionaries, merchants, mercenaries, & metaphysicians who wrote in detail about what they saw.

🧵 Image
The explorer, Fraser, gives a stunning description of Gangotri - being the first European to ever lay eyes on the holy site.

The account continues after the below page: “…now reached the holiest shrine of Hindoo worship which these holy hills contain. These are surely striking considerations, combining with the solemn grandeur of the place, to move the feelings strongly.”Image
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Another riveting description of the site.

The Gangoti temple built by the Gurkha General Amar Singh Thapa is still there today. Image
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Read 40 tweets
Oct 29, 2024
One of the biggest precursors to the Meiji Restoration was the downfall of the samurai.

Once revered as emblematic warrior elites, they were now debased in the eyes of commoners.

This collapse of hierarchy would pave the way for a cataclysmic civil war changing Japan forever 🧵 Image
The primary reason for their fall was their involvement in commercial affairs & subsequent deep debt many took on due to a weak hand when it came to finances:
The most kinetic aspect of this was the entry of commoners into formal armies in the form of mixed units (kiheitai), especially those of the Choshu domain.

The kiheitai were originally not that successful as Choshu commoners didn't respect the samurai, especially rebels (ronin).Image
Read 10 tweets
Oct 14, 2024
I increasingly go to LW outlets for RW wins.

The reasoning is this... 🧵 Image
1. RW had a very successful messaging strategy for the past decade - OUTRAGE.

Outrage over uneven secularism, communal incidents, etc... It was a shattering of mainstream narratives by the internet & it felt great.
For many, the usual outrage has gotten stale. The new fashion is criticizing the BJP for not being Hindu enough

Now THAT gets clicks & gives people that same twang of outrage of old WhatsApp forward of a random communal riot or love jihad or whatever

Folx get off on this stuff
Read 9 tweets

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