Meera Nanda has a detailed summary and analysis of the most recent Pew Global Attitudes report from the Indian point of view:
The Pew poll asked people in 47 countries if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others.†Indians topped the list, with a whopping 93 per cent agreeing that our culture was superior to others, with 64 per cent agreeing completely, without any reservations.
Now all people have a soft spot for their own culture. But to see how off-the-charts our vanity is, let us compare ourselves with the other “ancient civilisations†in our neighbourhood. Compared to our 64 per cent, only 18 per cent of the Japanese and only 20 per cent Chinese had no doubt at all that their culture was the best. Indeed, close to one quarter of Japanese and Chinese — as compared to our meagre 5 per cent — disagreed that their ways were the best.
The U.S. — a country universally condemned for its cultural imperialism — comes across as suffering from a severe case of inferiority complex when compared with us. Only 18 per cent Americans had no doubts about the superiority of their culture, compared with our 64 per cent. Nearly a quarter of Americans expressed self-doubts, and 16 per cent completely denied their own superiority. The corresponding numbers from India are five and one per cent. (link)
The obvious question to speculate on (and please, speculate away) is where this discrepancy comes from. I personally don’t know though I’ve definitely seen some evidence of it in the hyper-patriotic way many Indians cheer for the national cricket team.
A bit more:
The strange thing is that for a people who think so highly of our own culture, we are terribly insecure. A startling 92 per cent of Indians — almost exactly the same proportion who think we are the best — think that “our way of life needs to be protected against foreign influences.†Here, too, we beat the Japanese, the Chinese, and the Americans by about 25-30 percentage points. When it comes to feeling embattled and needing protection, we are closer to our Islamic neighbours, Pakistan (82 per cent) and Bangladesh (81 per cent). Indeed, we feel so embattled that 84 per cent of us want to restrict entry of people into the country, compared with only 75 per cent of those asked in the U.S., a country where legal and illegal immigration is of a magnitude higher than anywhere in the world.
So, paradoxically, our vanity is matched only by our persecution complex. (link)
It is kind of surprising that more Indians want immigration controls than Americans, especially considering how hot the immigration issue is in the U.S. right now. (Perhaps India is like Iowa; the fewer immigrants you actually have, the more you worry bout immigration?)
Nanda also summarizes the report’s findings on Indians’ attitudes to the role of government on helping the poor, and the proper role of religion in government (Indians are personally religious, but they also strongly support separation of church and state). The entire report can be found here (PDF) and the Pew Center’s brief summary is here.
Caste is not an exclusively Hindu problem. In the South Asian context, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians also have it, as a sociological reality of life, though to differing extents. Even in the solely Hindu context, caste is more a matter of a social stratification that results on a ‘bottom-up’ basis from a feudalistic society – than something that is implemented ‘top-down’ because of some scriptural sanction. And castes at the bottom can improve in their social status over time, so it is not always something that is carried on for generations altogether. And not surprizingly, the supposed existence of a ‘hereditary caste system’ and its weak correlation with skin color in India was also useful to European and other colonizers of India – in reinforcing their own hierarchical social order based on color.
But all that said, caste is also relevant to the decision of at least some lower-caste Hindus to convert to Islam. Here is a report of the Meenakshipuram conversions in Tamil Nadu – 25 years after they happened, from Rediff Sep 2006.
Uhh actually I’m in my early 20s and I majored in religious studies.
What is it with people making all sorts of detailed comments on who I am and what I believe?
I suspect I am much more well-read than many here who get their perspective on Indian politics from Pankaj Mishra and the other PC authors they read in college. I actually read Hindutva literature, anti-Hindutva literature, Islamist literature, moderate Islamic literature, etc. Those who interpolate a whole set of beliefs from an argument on one topic and start flinging irrelevant accusations are compensating for a lack of knowledge of the particular topic.
Its easy to out gun me by attributing all sorts of positions to me. I explain why Hindus should fear living among a Muslim majority an all of a sudden I get self-righteous individuals condemning me for untouchability, brahminism, stealing land from poor squatters, widow-burning, etc.
The arguments here are not xenophobic. I welcome immigration of Tibetans, Nepalese, and Bohra Muslims. Some immigration is bad for a country and some is good. Our argument is mainly that BDesh immigration is bad for India and for Hindus who make up most of India. Our evidence is offered above. Its easier to ignore those arguments and make irrelevant accusations.
No one is arguing Hinduism is perfect and Islam is irredeemable. But Islam right now is fraught with pathologies that is causing non-Muslims lots of suffering. It is perfectly sensible for us to have concerns about massive Islamic immigration. That Hinduism also has problems does not make those concerns any less legitimate.
Seriously disappointed in the moderators, eh? You mean the VOLUNTEER moderators? Because that would be classy. When we get paid to do this and we can leave our day jobs and divy up watching over this chaos in to shifts, THEN you can complain about inconsistent moderating.
In the meanwhile, stop lying about “if this were about sucky Christianity or terrorist Islam, these fantasy-land dwelling mutineers would’ve swooped in. wah!”. See my first paragraph for the cause of “inconsistent” application of guidelines by over-extended volunteers. We do our best with this site and yes, we’re imperfect. However, we have never disrespected Hinduism in the way some of you have wet dreams about– “oooh, pseudo-secular south asian progressives hating vulnerable mother india! we must go to their site and hit F5 and torment ourselves as a witness to her virtual pillaging, then we can bitch about it in the comments! victory is ours!”
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The mutineers are real people, with real lives and obligations– and sometimes, all of that prevents us from being here. But I shouldn’t be surprised– last year when there was a death in my family, I was eviscerated for not paying attention to the threads. How low will some of you stoop? What if there’s an emergency in one of the bloggers’ families? What if one of us is in the hospital? Do we have to announce that, so that you’ll cut us some slack/treat us with the fairness we deserve and should have WITHOUT such destruction to our privacy?
Shame on you. You know, you’re not toddlers who require constant vigilance. You’re adults who should be able to carry on a civil discussion. And if you come here all the time, we would be so grateful if you could pitch in and help moderate if you see that we’re absent.
I’m going to close this thread, because some of you don’t deserve the right to post on it, after your unnecessary and hurtful words about SM and our criminal, inexcusable absence. As for the rest of you, ending this conversation is for the best– it’s impossible to weed out the trolling at this point and you deserve more than this.
Thread closes at 9:45pm. Well-done, to those who caused this.
A N N A, perhaps that was what was needed with insults being traded here like camels in Pushkar. I was very disappointed by the personal swipes here: “deluded bourgeoisie liberal wretches,” “gauche engineers and MBAs,” “khaki-wearing fascist swyamsevaks.”
You’re right that people here are adults, and can play fair here. Concede graciously, and argue without stereotyping or name-calling. No such luck though.
Scores of comments ago, this thread was actually enjoyable.