Woke,Inc : Inside America's Social Justice Scam A Review of Vivek Ramaswamy's expose

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Woke,Inc Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam

Vivek Ramaswamy

Center Street, 2021

In Biden's and Kamala's America public discourse is around three ideological tenets: Systemic Racism, White Privilege and Equity. Together they constitute the foundations of Wokeism, a new political and cultural movement based on Identity Politics of Race Gender and Sexual Orientation. Vivek Ramaswamy has studied the ramifications of these ideological shibboleths  both in the larger context of American public life and the institutional carapace within which these ideologies are impacting both policies and culture. 

Vive Ramaswamy, is the son of Indian immigrants from South India and grew up in Ohio. He graduated from Harvard and went on to earn a JD from Yale University. He founded a Biotech Company, Roivant which raised venture capital funds of nearly a billion US dollars and remained a highly profitable venture. He was chose  to resign following the pronounced drift to Woke culture within the American Corporate World.

The book is a scathing indictment of Corporate America at least in its Woke avatar. This ideology argues Vivek is pernicious in that it robs the citizens not only of their money and wealth but their voice in the Public Square and their identity as well. The huge and unaccountable power in the hands of Corporate Mughals like Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Mark Zuckerberg of FaceBook has led to distortions in the information available to the citizens for making informed political judgement. The manner in which all these three Mega Tech Companies censored dissenting views on the Origin of COVID 19 and blindsided any discussion on the possible origins of the Virus in the Wuhan Virology Lab suggests a degree of coordination in pushing forth a scripted line. And Vivek rightly compares this with the Soviet style censorship of the 1930s. The de-platforming of President Trump by Twitter constitutes a violation of fundamental rights of a citizen to express himself. The flip side of this is that if the State or the agencies of the State acted in such a dictatorial or high handed manner the Judiciary would have intervened. But these Mega Tech Companies are private  players protected by an Act of Congress that limit their liability. He, unlike other critics who want to use the Anti Trust Laws to break up and discipline these entities, suggests that it is better to make Corporate America aware of its obligations to its shareholders leaving stakeholder concerns to the politicians

Vivek Ramaswamy is a crusader and like every crusader is armed with moral indignation which bristles on every page. The very companies that promote Black Live Matter and its agenda in USA are often extremely callous in other parts of the world. Nike which retained Kaepernick as its "brand ambassador" was hailed as a hero for kneeling when the US National Anthem was played and the Company gave a large donation to the Black Lives Matter Inc. However the fact that Nike shoes are made by Uygar slave labour in Communist China is of little moment for the awakened "woe" souls of the liberal world. Self interest passes off as morality in the Brave New World of Wokedom. Jeff Bezos who had several minority employees fired for speaking about the terrible working conditions in Amazon facilities, gave a donation of 10 Million US dollars to the Black Lives Matter and ensured that there is no adverse reaction. There is obviously a disconnect between the professed objectives of Social Justice and the actual practices of the Corporates. The fixation with BLM seems to be so overwhelming that outward expressions of fealty covers up great malfeasance. Volkswagen  which was hailed as a game changer in conforming to the demands of rigorous environmental norms was exposed as a cheat which beat the tests by installing a software that generated fake results. Such examples can be multiplied but the basic argument is that Wokeism is only an ideological cover for corporate greed and an alibi for gross violations of law, regulations and even Constitutional mandates. The example of Unilever is most instructive. The UN has several times commended the organization for "fempowering" women, Unilever speak for Female Empowerment. Women working in a Tea estate in Kenya were attacked and several of them assaulted and around 11 of them even killed. Unilever which was hailed as a great liberal upholder of Women's Rights did not pay any compensation and when the affected party appealed to the UN, strategic  contributions to NGOs  ensured  suppression and soon the matter was forgotten. Vivek rightly says, the "cloak of wokeness hides wrongdoing". 

Woke Corporate America's sins seem to be many. Airbnb shared personal data with the Communist Party of China a major player in the woke world. McKinsey, an Accounting Firm, prepared a Report for the Saudi Government in which it identified 3 major critics of the regime who posted o Twitter. The result they were arrested. Authoritarian regimes like those of China and Saudi Arabia seem to have close ties with Corporates subscribing to Woke ideology.  And China as a consummate player in this game has learnt to co opt woke methods to serve its own ends. The reason for this support is not hard to find: the immense wealth of China makes it inviting and New York Times and Washington Post carry full page advertisements issued by China and this is one way of funneling money into the American Ideological Apparatus. 

Interspersed in the book are interesting insights into the evolution of corporate structures in USA. Corporations enjoyed the benefits of limited liability in return for a Social Contract based on maximizing profits to the shareholder and serving the Nation's needs. Over the years Corporates have been able to expand their footprint in USA by claiming to represent the stakeholders, a catchall phrase for citizens, professional groups, church goers etc. By claiming to represent stakeholders  corporate USA has moved to the dangerous territory in which it is virtually accountable to no one.

Vivek Ramaswamy has stated clearly and argued that unless USA wakes up, democratic space and freedom in USA will be eroded.

COVID 19 India's Response and World Issues

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The COVID 19 pandemic has not left India unaffected. We are under lockdown and days seem to stretch into inflinity. We cannot leave the House and so have not been blogging. Today my daughter helped me configure her old lap top and am back blogging after quite a while. I am a Historian, a Professor of History a Researcher and an Animal Rights'Activist. We need a curfew pass to move out and being a senior citizen I am given some relaxation in the number of curfew passes I am issued. I drive from the Campus to the town and get the stuff we need and return in the blazing sun,as the shops close by 1100.At least I have tonnes of books to read and have an interesting project to work on. Living through COVIID 19 has given me time to relect and this blog is on my two cents worth.

When the Pandemic began. i was more or less convinced that the virus was the result of an AmericanGerm Warfare experiment gone horribly wrong. Now I have changed my mind and believe that the Communist Regime in China have a lot of explanation to give to the International Community. Wuhan Wet Market which they blamed for the outbreak is not the primary source of the virus. It was probably the Wuhan Institute of Virology that was reponsible. It is too early to say if this was a deliberate attempt at disrupting the world economy or an accident in the lab. Whatever be the circumstances, China owes an expalnation and has to make a clean confession and International sanctions may be invoked to make the State comply. And the behaviour of China, in trying to make profit off the suffering of human beings all over the world is despicable even by Communist standards. India and Germany have changed the norms of Foreign Direct Investment to prevent hostile Chinese takeovers and China is threatening to take matters to the WTO. A bad move as China virtually dands isolated in the World today.

USA is devastated. Seeing the rising number of casulities which is reaching the 50,000 mark I cannot help feeling a tinge of sorrow at the stoicism of the American people. They are going through hell and they are bearing their immense suffering with great dignity. I dont want my words to be seen as patronizing or taken as a wise crack. I mean it. Did Trump err in calling it the Chinese virs. I dare to say NO. I am now convinced that the virus originated in China and the WHO has worked overtime to hide the involvement of China in this tragic Greek Opera that is unfolding before our very eyes. And the attention of the Trump Administration was distracted by the Impeachment Proceeding launched by the Democrtas precisely at the time when the US Administration was rlizing the gravity of th situaton and had imposed the travel ban.

India does not see a huge spike in COVID cases. The Government of India acted at the right time. A Nationwide Lockdown was imposed on March 25th even as the country saw less that hundred cases on that day. Under Lockdown which was imposed nder the  Infectious Disease and Epidemics Act, which was legislated in the nineteenth century, the Government can arrest people for breaking the curfew. Barring one particular identity group, all behaved the citizens behaved well. This brings to to the Tablighi Jamaat or Single ource Event as we refer euphemisticlly.

THe Tablighis, a group of orthodox Sunni muslims were found to have gathered in large numbers in Nizamuddin Area in New Delhi and violating the Social Distancing norms they hind in moques all over India thereby infecting and contaminating places which were free of the virus. The states of Maharashtra, Telengana and Tamil Nadu are the worst affected. I think the situation in West Bengal is also grim.

Unlike USA, India's strategy was different. It imposed Lockdown and undertook tracing and tracking of those exposed to the virus and strict quarantine measure are in place. An APP Arogya Sethu was rolled out which alerts smart phone usere of the possible Covid hot spots. It tracks using the GPS and blue tooth, This app has been effevtive and more than 70 million people have downloaded it. Though travel restrictions are in place, the country has not been seeing fatalities as what was witnessed in USA, Italy, Spin and  UK. The Nation must thank the Prime MInster for his pro active steps,

Every night as I watch Andrew Coumo, the Governor of New York speak on CNN I hear the words"flatten the curve". The basic mistake that USA dis was to address the problem from the wrong end. The models as indeed all models in such cases were wrong and predicted a situation that was both impossible and hellish. Had the US not depended on statistical models which are Bayseian in their basic architecture and relied more on prctical measures as were put in place after the 1918-19 Pandemic, the US would have fared better.

Animals in Combat: Is the use of Animals in Combat justified

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

K9 Hero honoured by Trump

The use of animals in warfare is as old as war itself. Elephants, Horses, Dogs, Dolphins, Donkeys and even bats have been used in war. The beautiful picture of President Trump honouring the dog that valiantly burst into the tunnel in which the iSIS leader, al Bagdadi had taken refuge raises an importat point: are we justied in using animals in war, combat or in situations in which anima life is considered expendable and therefore sacrificed.  Since animals do not have either the ability or the requirement to give their consent, the abuse of animals in the name of military serive is taken for granted. It is also a fact that when they have bravely discharged their assigned duties, they are put to sleep when they groiw old and are no longer needed in the Army. India too was following the practice of putting war animals especially Dogs and Horses to sleep when their day was done. It is to the eternal credit of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi that this inhuman tradition has been ended and animals declared old or unfit are sent to a State funded retirement home.

Ever since the beginning of warfare animals have been used in combat. tHE GREEK FRIEZE  in the British Museum is an early representaion of a horse in combat. We can see in the picture on the left horses are literally being strangled as they bear the weight of the hoplite and confront the enemy.  Herodotus the great historian was the first to draw attention to the courage shown byEques in combat. The Mongols who conquered and ruled the largest Empire in history used horses to ride into batte and with the stirrup which the Mongols invented harnessed the strength of the horse as a force against the enemy. It is said that a force of just 15,000 Mongol Horsemen coquered the Abbasid Empire. The knights of the middle ages faught on horseback and the tall horses were even equipped with armour. Certainly animals used in war were looked after well. Afterall the fate of battle depended on the health and strenght of the animal.

In World War I, on the battle field of Gallipoli withessed the most amazing animal of all performing its dities admist the dreary tench of death and cannonfire. Duffy, the donkey carried innumerable ANZAC soldiers to safety and a grateful country gave the highest military decoration to Duffy whose satute stands, I beleive, opposite the Parliament building in Canberra. The Donkey never flinched in the face of danger like the cannine hero who wom a military decoration in USA for his role in tracking down al Bagdadi.

While human have been grateful for the services and support provided by animals we have to raise the question: Are we justified in using animals in combat. The use of animals to sniff out drugs and mines does not pose an immediate dange to animals. However if they are sent to war their lives are put to risk. The justification for this is the Christian notion that Man has "Dominion" over animals. However, Sanathana Dharma eshews such simplistic notions. Animals are part of nature and putting them in harms way is certainly not justified.

Donald Trump and Vladmir Putin Summit at Helsinki, Finland

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books


An extraordinary event happened in Helsinki two days back and the American Media seems to have been caught completely off guard.  The world's two most powerful men met in the Finnish capital Helsinki in order to iron out the differences between them, From Newspaper reports it appears that all the hot spots around the world, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Ukraine were all discussed and Isreal and its security was also discussed. No official communique was issued at the end of the talks so we have to depend only on information from the two sides. The American press and its Academic leaders even went to the extent of terming this meeting and the conclusions that followed as "treason". The establishment Republicans like Jon Mccain and Democrats were quick to denounce the Press Meet that followed as :disgraceful" "cowardly" and Hussein Obama was full of invective against the attempt to bring Russia back into the world system.

The fact is that the Intelligence Community--CIA, NSA --have all been extremely hostile to Donal Trump and have at times even tried to undermine him and his foreign policy. Such acts certainly lead to the suspicion that the Deep State in the US is operating through the Intelligence Media nexus. Trump has sought to lessen the tensions between USA and Russia and there is nothing wrong in this objective. Ukraine where a fascist regime has been propped up by the West is the cause for all the strain. And Crimea was integrated into the Russia state after following internationally accepted norms of self determination. The American Media and its liberal establishment cannot decide the future of world relations and Trump was certainly within his right to set the foreign policy agenda as he is the constitutionally mandated authority, Where does the charge of treason come? And intelligence agencies in no Democracy are allowed to set foreign policy goals. American Media trotted out the so called betrayal of the Intelligence Community. Since when did the Intelligence Agencies get the authority to conduct foreign policy.

The American Intelligence Agencies did not cover themselves with glory as they were responsible for cooking up a false case against Iraq on the existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the whole of the Middle East is in a state of crisis following the collapse of the Baath regime in Iraq. I would even say that by concocting a false narrative the American agencies have shown that they are complicit with the Deep State. Second, the 9/11 attacks in September 2001 were carried out by Sunni extremists trained and financed by Saudi Arabia. USA has now sold 100 billion dollars worth of military equipment to the Saudis which is being used to kill people in Yemen. Trump is trying to make peace and the Deep State in the uSA is trying to thwart that effort.

In his Inauguration Address Trump spoke of the American Carnage. The Deep State and its minions were deeply offended by the speech for this explicit reference.  When Hussein Obama was the President the drone warfare and bombings were at the rate of one bomb every four minutes. And Trump for all his less than sensible public statments has not repeated the American Carnage though he has not been able to stop it fully.

I think there is no reason to suggest Trumps desire for some kind of rapprochement with Russia as treason. The American media is doing great disservice to its own people by misinforming them about what is happening on the world stage. THe President's remarks about the hacking of the elections came as a response to an impertinent question from an American reporter about the Hacking of the elctions. Is American democracy so fragile that it can be hijacked by 12 hackers sitting in Russia. Trup rightly said that the FBI has not been able to recover the DNC servers or the 33,000 emails which were deleted from Hilary Clinton's account. Where is the treason in placing facts before the public. The US media has become so partisan that it does not want to face facts.