Ramaswamy: 1. Who the fuck is he? 2. Where did he come from? 3. Who's funding him? . . . . .

[tenderfoot]

41. He's probably backed by Peter Thiel

Here's an interesting tidbit from reddit:

The interesting cas(t)e of Vivek Ramaswamy
Analysis/Theory

So I am an Indian and still live in India. I maintain a surface level awareness of the political happenings in America. But I hadn't heard about Vivek until one of my American clients brought him up in a conversation. He was a conservative and praised Vivek for upholding American values, which he said helped Vivek achieve the American dream even though his parents were poor when they immigrated to America.

I would have forgotten about Vivek, but two things about him make him stand out in my mind. First, his parents were from Kerala, which is where I am from. See, this is odd. Because Kerala is primarily a left-leaning state. The right wing parties struggle to win more than even a couple of districts there. While there are conservative folks in Kerala, they are really rare. Secondly, 'Ramaswamy', Vivek's last name, isn't a Kerala name (or Malayali name to be precise. Malayalam is the language spoken in Kerala). It is more of a Tamil name (Tamil being the language of Kerala's neighbour state).

This bugged me. So I mentioned this to my friend who is also from Kerala. I also mentioned that Vivek is from Palakkad in Kerala. That's when it hit him. Apparently, Palakkad has a settlement of Tamil Brahmins and Vivek is from there. I googled Vivek's caste after the call and, voila, he IS a Brahmin.

Now why I am saying all this and pointing out Vivek's caste? Because of a couple of reasons. Vivek claims his parents came to the country poor and worked their way up. A lot of Americans don't realise that immigration in India is an expensive affair. And the majority of the immigrants you guys received from India until a couple of decades ago were Brahmins and upper caste folks. Why? Because a very few from the marginalized castes could afford it.

So when Vivek touts the same bullshit as Elon Musk and other rich guys, I hope you take it with a pinch of salt.

Also, Tamil Brahmins are generally the worst of Brahmins. Many Brahmins in modern India are introspective about the atrocities of their caste in the past and shun the caste system. In fact, many of them abandoned their identity as a Brahmin. But not Tamil Brahmins. They wear it as a badge of honour. They go around calling themselves "Tam-Brahms" and still subscribe to the false sense of superiority and look down on others. They also strongly argue for removing 'reservations", which is Indian equivalent of affirmative action to uplift lower castes.

Given all this, is there any surprise that Vivek will advocate for removal of all affirmative action, dismiss all discussions about inequality, and a return to the "good old days"?

PS: Also, as more and more Indians enter your country, I really recommend that Americans familiarise themselves with the Caste system. It will help.