If you want to talk about a "Threat to our democracy", this is it. THIS conviction, held by the upper middle class of the secular "Educated". And all New Money.
"First, the implication is that writing about any topic that might give apparently bad people ammunition for further impure thoughts means the ideas must be suppressed. This is one of the most morally detestable positions that institutionally affiliated people take...."
Interesting. I don't fully see this dynamic, so I can't fully judge it. I've worked at three tech companies, and only one had a significant proportion of Indian workers, pipelined through several local schools. I'm aware of the caste system in India, but it's opaque to most white American professionals.
The notion of a system that is exploitative, because of extreme arbitrage, not coercion, does make sense. My wife came to the US on H1 (not H1B), so she was a free agent, not indentured. She had a bad impression of H1B.
The problem with the idea that 'Indians have more children' is *why is that a good thing?*
If more people means more good stuff then why is India exporting their 'best' to Racist America when they should already have good use for them because 'more people means more good stuff'?
More people today means more people tomorrow.
Just because children are born 'Indian' doesn't mean they don't get old, too.
The 'more immigrant' solution to declining birth rates is a death spiral.
Ok, who’s going to make sure we have enough future workers who will make enough to pay taxes? Latinos certainly aren’t going to be the future because they’re more likely to draw on the social safety net than contribute to it. Indians on the other hand are FAR less likely to need the safety net, nor do they have kids outside marriage unlike every other non white group (and unlike working class whites) save for East Asians.
In general the great H1b civil war was won by the restrictionist side.
The $100k fee got added. Higher wages were prioritized. 2026 Application data shows a large increase in quality. The really low quality Indian consultant shops saw a big drop in h1b usage.
This after Elon Musk threatened to “rip the faces off” anyone that touched the h1b program (or simply didn’t massively expand it). The “tech right” said that the racist chuds needed to be kicked out of the GOP for criticizing the H1b and the usual doom and gloomers said Trump was already selling them out.
Yet here we are and it’s basically a total victory for the restrictionist side. And not just in America. Canada made a 10x per capita bet on importing mediocre tier white collar Indian workers along similar lines to our h1b and it’s been a total disaster that its politicians have disowned.
The data is in and the bottleneck on economic growth is not culturally incompatible mediocrities working for big institutions.
I don’t buy this at all. And it depends on what you mean by the generic term “economic growth”. And even if it has a negligible effect on “economic growth” which people seem to use as a thought terminating cliche, the program itself still should be dramatically scaled back and require strict proof of actually scarce skills in addition to prioritizing those people rather than awarding it randomly. If, for example, Texas suburbs aren’t booming and making new mansions for Indians anymore because of the reduction in buyers, I’m not upset about it. Further, keeping the system as it is wasn’t going to improve economic conditions writ large either, so what does it matter?
By economic growth I mean that Canada took in something like 10x or more per capita the number of H1B types as America and its had a flat GDP per capita for 15 years. Rather than creating Silicon Valley 2.0 it destroyed the real estate market and they ransacked the food banks.
We've been told that accepting a million bajillion Indians as long as they can get a BA and work in an office is supposed to be the ticket to a growing dynamic society of innovators, but Canada actually did it and the total opposite happened.
Ahhh I misinterpreted your initial comment. I think the example of Texas suburbs is similar. They boomed but it was artificially based on H1B buyers continuing at a regular pace. I don’t get the rationale of banking on those people getting green cards. Separately I think this is why it doesn’t make sense for temp visa holders of any kind to be able to buy property, not least because it prices many other people out of the market because Indians can outbid most. Entire Texas suburbs are exclusively Indian which I’m not sure is good either. It’s more coethnic networks further shutting outsiders out. Idk why no one seems to consider that Indians are extremely insular and resist incorporating outsiders at work if they can help it. They’d rather hire an Indian from their own sub group than anyone else, which makes for homogeneous workplaces.
"Despite this, I think we should allow more Indians to immigrate because they have more children, are entrepreneurial and open small businesses, and are amenable to democracy, unlike the Chinese, even if imperfectly."
Sorry, but after a prolonged period of mass immigration I think integration should be top priority. A true test of integration is how immigrants behave when they are a local majority or in a position of economic or political power (or even just wanting to build a giant gaudy statue that pisses off the locals.)
A nation is more than just an economic zone for short term globalist economic ambition. Maybe Dubai is the ideal destination for those with a globalist worldview.
Otherwise it's an excellent article, though Richard Hanania doesn't deserve even a minute of your time.
"America is culturally richer for the Hindus settled here, not to mention what Hinduism has contributed to bourgeois white culture that’s become a whole sector on which white women base their livelihoods: wellness culture."
Related to "bourgeois white culture", what do you think of the popular American definition of "karma"? Personally, it strikes me as excessively reductive of a rather complex concept. Almost like a vending machine of rewards and punishments, or perhaps a Skinner box.
Yeah they have no idea what it means. I don’t bother explaining unless someone asks, but I think of it as actions having a harmful or helpful effect. But the level of knowledge one has before acting also matters greatly. That said, I’m not an expert in this area.
"The second sentence in which I am warned about “racists cheering” me on is truly breathtaking in its assumptions. First, the implication is that writing about any topic that might give apparently bad people ammunition for further impure thoughts means the ideas must be suppressed. This is one of the most morally detestable positions that institutionally affiliated people take, because it makes knowledge contingent on their approval, particularly for topics about which they know little."
This is golden. People want to know why societal trust keeps declining. When those in positions of power and authority insist on telling (or at least approving and espousing) more and more "white lies", it corrodes trust.
Like it or not! And no amount of legal action or public shaming will change that. Even forcing compliance becomes more difficult.
And there's no accountability when these lies have their easily-foreseeable effects when it comes to trust and, as it follows, voluntary self-interested compliance with the rules of an orderly society. No accountability for the knock-on effects, and no accountability for the lies that caused them.
I think a lot of the degradation of discourse today is the result of some wanting to see everything through a Marxian lens of oppressed/exploited-oppressor/exploiter, whether one has Marxist beliefs or not, and far beyond the realm of economics.
What follows from this is a victim class, one that cannot be questioned.
Marxism is the shitty philosophy that just won't die!
As I am beginning to explore on my Substack, a lot of this is really an accountability-of-authority issue. Things break down when authority becomes unaccountable.
"It is not justified to hire labor at depressed wages and incentivize compliance with jobs that involve judgment about what actually requires a process and what is process theater."
This applies to pretty much any role being paid a depressed wage.
While there is no substitute for sheer experience, I've learned that one of the other biggest reasons older professionals are successful in their roles is the fact that they often come with a pocket full of eff-you money.
They really DGAF about what you think and even less about how you feel, and will tell you what you REALLY need to hear instead of telling you what you want to hear.
Sure, they might kiss off the wrong person, but that only increases their value.
Great piece, and I’m glad you continue to write and post on here. In particular your point about people wanting to suppress knowledge because it may be used immorally or by immoral people was very well made.
I appreciate that you pulled that out because I find it in so many areas. Principles should matter, and yet the guardians of knowledge have devalued their own product
Really appreciated hearing from someone with first-hand experience on this topic. And, I appreciate your defense. Just because Hanania used to be a racist, I guess he believes everyone sees the world through the same lense. This isn't a lower class, uneducated problem. It is an entirely Brahmin issue and it's clear to me that it is exploitation.
I feel like I’ve reached a new level that someone like that is attacking me for being racist tbh. I’m sure Indians will unsubscribe because of this one too.
THANK YOU for calling this out: See below.
If you want to talk about a "Threat to our democracy", this is it. THIS conviction, held by the upper middle class of the secular "Educated". And all New Money.
"First, the implication is that writing about any topic that might give apparently bad people ammunition for further impure thoughts means the ideas must be suppressed. This is one of the most morally detestable positions that institutionally affiliated people take...."
I find this everywhere, and I've been meaning to deal with it in a longer essay.
I find this everywhere, too.
Interesting. I don't fully see this dynamic, so I can't fully judge it. I've worked at three tech companies, and only one had a significant proportion of Indian workers, pipelined through several local schools. I'm aware of the caste system in India, but it's opaque to most white American professionals.
The notion of a system that is exploitative, because of extreme arbitrage, not coercion, does make sense. My wife came to the US on H1 (not H1B), so she was a free agent, not indentured. She had a bad impression of H1B.
The problem with the idea that 'Indians have more children' is *why is that a good thing?*
If more people means more good stuff then why is India exporting their 'best' to Racist America when they should already have good use for them because 'more people means more good stuff'?
More people today means more people tomorrow.
Just because children are born 'Indian' doesn't mean they don't get old, too.
The 'more immigrant' solution to declining birth rates is a death spiral.
More immigrants.
More immigrants retiring.
It's not a fuckin solution.
Ok, who’s going to make sure we have enough future workers who will make enough to pay taxes? Latinos certainly aren’t going to be the future because they’re more likely to draw on the social safety net than contribute to it. Indians on the other hand are FAR less likely to need the safety net, nor do they have kids outside marriage unlike every other non white group (and unlike working class whites) save for East Asians.
In general the great H1b civil war was won by the restrictionist side.
The $100k fee got added. Higher wages were prioritized. 2026 Application data shows a large increase in quality. The really low quality Indian consultant shops saw a big drop in h1b usage.
This after Elon Musk threatened to “rip the faces off” anyone that touched the h1b program (or simply didn’t massively expand it). The “tech right” said that the racist chuds needed to be kicked out of the GOP for criticizing the H1b and the usual doom and gloomers said Trump was already selling them out.
Yet here we are and it’s basically a total victory for the restrictionist side. And not just in America. Canada made a 10x per capita bet on importing mediocre tier white collar Indian workers along similar lines to our h1b and it’s been a total disaster that its politicians have disowned.
The data is in and the bottleneck on economic growth is not culturally incompatible mediocrities working for big institutions.
I don’t buy this at all. And it depends on what you mean by the generic term “economic growth”. And even if it has a negligible effect on “economic growth” which people seem to use as a thought terminating cliche, the program itself still should be dramatically scaled back and require strict proof of actually scarce skills in addition to prioritizing those people rather than awarding it randomly. If, for example, Texas suburbs aren’t booming and making new mansions for Indians anymore because of the reduction in buyers, I’m not upset about it. Further, keeping the system as it is wasn’t going to improve economic conditions writ large either, so what does it matter?
I'm not sure exactly what you "don't buy"?
By economic growth I mean that Canada took in something like 10x or more per capita the number of H1B types as America and its had a flat GDP per capita for 15 years. Rather than creating Silicon Valley 2.0 it destroyed the real estate market and they ransacked the food banks.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/wkzGCn7LbWsxGusT02Mc_ra4iwWBvINvzt20qwnmikMRqssPJO8yw6YA2eCkfjGKTJd54qnWj1Sa3K_oJnH3VpfCllhQ_z_Ucz_vTe1SgbTECc2WJJeF3DEDQVGw_KJU1DjMXvEme_2Vq4ghj71_3jc
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/no-international-students-as-need-grows-brampton-food-bank-turning-some-away-1.7024375
We've been told that accepting a million bajillion Indians as long as they can get a BA and work in an office is supposed to be the ticket to a growing dynamic society of innovators, but Canada actually did it and the total opposite happened.
Ahhh I misinterpreted your initial comment. I think the example of Texas suburbs is similar. They boomed but it was artificially based on H1B buyers continuing at a regular pace. I don’t get the rationale of banking on those people getting green cards. Separately I think this is why it doesn’t make sense for temp visa holders of any kind to be able to buy property, not least because it prices many other people out of the market because Indians can outbid most. Entire Texas suburbs are exclusively Indian which I’m not sure is good either. It’s more coethnic networks further shutting outsiders out. Idk why no one seems to consider that Indians are extremely insular and resist incorporating outsiders at work if they can help it. They’d rather hire an Indian from their own sub group than anyone else, which makes for homogeneous workplaces.
"Despite this, I think we should allow more Indians to immigrate because they have more children, are entrepreneurial and open small businesses, and are amenable to democracy, unlike the Chinese, even if imperfectly."
Sorry, but after a prolonged period of mass immigration I think integration should be top priority. A true test of integration is how immigrants behave when they are a local majority or in a position of economic or political power (or even just wanting to build a giant gaudy statue that pisses off the locals.)
A nation is more than just an economic zone for short term globalist economic ambition. Maybe Dubai is the ideal destination for those with a globalist worldview.
Otherwise it's an excellent article, though Richard Hanania doesn't deserve even a minute of your time.
Hanania is a particularly vile piece of work
"America is culturally richer for the Hindus settled here, not to mention what Hinduism has contributed to bourgeois white culture that’s become a whole sector on which white women base their livelihoods: wellness culture."
Related to "bourgeois white culture", what do you think of the popular American definition of "karma"? Personally, it strikes me as excessively reductive of a rather complex concept. Almost like a vending machine of rewards and punishments, or perhaps a Skinner box.
Yeah they have no idea what it means. I don’t bother explaining unless someone asks, but I think of it as actions having a harmful or helpful effect. But the level of knowledge one has before acting also matters greatly. That said, I’m not an expert in this area.
"The second sentence in which I am warned about “racists cheering” me on is truly breathtaking in its assumptions. First, the implication is that writing about any topic that might give apparently bad people ammunition for further impure thoughts means the ideas must be suppressed. This is one of the most morally detestable positions that institutionally affiliated people take, because it makes knowledge contingent on their approval, particularly for topics about which they know little."
This is golden. People want to know why societal trust keeps declining. When those in positions of power and authority insist on telling (or at least approving and espousing) more and more "white lies", it corrodes trust.
Like it or not! And no amount of legal action or public shaming will change that. Even forcing compliance becomes more difficult.
And there's no accountability when these lies have their easily-foreseeable effects when it comes to trust and, as it follows, voluntary self-interested compliance with the rules of an orderly society. No accountability for the knock-on effects, and no accountability for the lies that caused them.
I think this is another condition of a narcissistic society because if everything is about perception, anything can be denied
I think a lot of the degradation of discourse today is the result of some wanting to see everything through a Marxian lens of oppressed/exploited-oppressor/exploiter, whether one has Marxist beliefs or not, and far beyond the realm of economics.
What follows from this is a victim class, one that cannot be questioned.
Marxism is the shitty philosophy that just won't die!
As I am beginning to explore on my Substack, a lot of this is really an accountability-of-authority issue. Things break down when authority becomes unaccountable.
"It is not justified to hire labor at depressed wages and incentivize compliance with jobs that involve judgment about what actually requires a process and what is process theater."
This applies to pretty much any role being paid a depressed wage.
While there is no substitute for sheer experience, I've learned that one of the other biggest reasons older professionals are successful in their roles is the fact that they often come with a pocket full of eff-you money.
They really DGAF about what you think and even less about how you feel, and will tell you what you REALLY need to hear instead of telling you what you want to hear.
Sure, they might kiss off the wrong person, but that only increases their value.
https://www.savinghabit.com/a-man-with-savings-a-bank-ad-from-1963/index.html
I think this is more available to men though, unfortunately.
I posted elsewhere that AI is a force multiplier for those with judgment and discernment.
Unfortunately, it's also a force multiplier for morons.
Great piece, and I’m glad you continue to write and post on here. In particular your point about people wanting to suppress knowledge because it may be used immorally or by immoral people was very well made.
I appreciate that you pulled that out because I find it in so many areas. Principles should matter, and yet the guardians of knowledge have devalued their own product
Don’t feel you need to respond to Hanania. He’s a self-important attention-seeking midwit.
He was actually a great example of the mechanism in action was the only reason but agreed
Agreed.
I can't even look at his face.
Really appreciated hearing from someone with first-hand experience on this topic. And, I appreciate your defense. Just because Hanania used to be a racist, I guess he believes everyone sees the world through the same lense. This isn't a lower class, uneducated problem. It is an entirely Brahmin issue and it's clear to me that it is exploitation.
Hanania is obsessed now with racism, because he was once himself a member of the nativist far right. It's tiresome.
It's almost like he's trying to "do the work" (those are quotes of sarcasm) and atone for his past sins.
Exactly right. Plus, how can one be respected and paid otherwise? I don't trust it.
I feel like I’ve reached a new level that someone like that is attacking me for being racist tbh. I’m sure Indians will unsubscribe because of this one too.
There is a surprising number of based Indians, though.
Some people are unfortunately very sensitive when they are hit with the truth. It will always be this way, yet tell the truth we must.