Why Indians love America so much

[varun]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GG07Df02.html

NEW DELHI - A recent survey concerning India and the United States has set off a debate here. Contrary to opinions in many other countries, especially Muslim-majority ones, the survey by the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project states that America's image is the best in India.

"Fully 71% in India express a positive opinion of the United States, compared with 54% three years ago," the survey says. Favorable opinion of the US in India was higher than any of the countries surveyed, including Canada (where it declined from 72% three years ago to 59%) and the United Kingdom, where it dipped considerably from 75% to 55%. Indians also had the most favorable opinion of the American people - 71% compared to 70% in Britain, 66% in Canada, 65% in Germany, 64% in France, 61% in Russia and 43% in China. The survey was conducted among 17,000 people in the US and 15 other countries from April 20 to May 31...

...India until the 1990s was a different country. It modeled itself on socialist Russia, its Cold War ally since independence in 1947, where the individual was subsumed by the might of the state and bureaucracy. In the 1970s and 1980s, the only way to breach the stranglehold of the state was to move to the West or the Gulf countries, where Indian entrepreneurs excelled. Doctors and engineers were in demand in the West, but formed a very small percentage of the youth who wanted to break the shackles that forced everyone to conform to an abstract higher good dictated by the thoughts of Karl Marx and the rest.

This, many observers say, was a complete antithesis of the way Indians are and have been for centuries. Like Americans, Indians have done best when allowed to excel in an uncluttered environment where individual excellence is recognized. The pursuit of high performance and efficiency, rooted in liberal values and individual rights and democratic principles, is where India and US stand on similar ground...

[Tux]

1. They love our corporations

For sending them jobs. Don't forget that.

[Swamp Rat]

2. That was my first thought as well. n/t

[varun]

3. If jobs and money was the only factor

Chinese should love Americans more. After all, China is the largest trading partner of USA...and the trade between China and USA dwarfs that between India and USA.

Besides, All the American aid to middle eastern countries is not making their people love America anymore ... is it?

[Tommymac]

4. Aid in the form of bombs, bullets and guns....

is not the most effective way to spread goodwill.

[Swamp Rat]

5. My second thought:

India is infested with alien lizards and PodPeople too.

[varun]

8. you may have a point here...

Indian love weird stories like that..just open up any Indian newspaper and you will find stories of a girl marrying a dog or something like that...Indians also love movies and show business...Bollywood is the perfect example.

anyway, what I really want to say is that both countries are traditionally "individualistic" and democratic.

[Swamp Rat]

12. I think most Americans (99.99%) do not even know Bollywood exists,

let alone how big it is compared to other movie making industries.

If you know anyone in India, please warn them about the alien lizard invasion... start by sending them this: :D

[delete_bush]

10. Canada is actually our largest trading partner,

followed by Mexico and then I think the EU. China is around 4th.

You're right though about India, our trade with them is about 10% of what we do with Mexico.

[Selatius]

6. Another example of why authoritarian state socialism is not good news

People, rather than some state bureaucracy or some vanguard party that claims to represent people, should ultimately have reign over their collective destiny, not some monolithic authority figure. This is why I was always more of a libertarian socialist than an advocate of state socialism. Too much control is stifling. For example, I don't need to wait for the government's permission 2,000 miles away in, say, Soviet-Era Moscow to boost farm output by putting in more time in the fields because the folks in my area are near starving and need more food for the coming winter.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. They love us bombing the crap out of Muslims? n/t

[fujiyama]

9. It's nice and all

that Indians have a good image of the US and Americans. Bush is NOT the United States, but if they like Bush as well, well...they're just plain stupid. This administration has given Pakistan billions of dollars in military aid (including F-16s) and all those greedy republican Indians doctors can go fuck themselves for supporting a president that does that.

The funniest story I heard was when a bunch of big time Indian donors were snubbed by Bush after the election. They were expecting Rove or another higher up from the administration greeting them. Instead they got a canned response.

[lvx35]

11. There is a buzz that we like them

backed up by some recent actions from the Bush administration. And their probably not wrong: Bush wants allies in Asia, China-phobia is starting to grow.