i'd say this is not very good. the TSP is 14th-favorite, and the evil
empire of china is the 11th favorite, which means yank youngsters (as
can be expected) are ignorant. the media can easily turn these
perceptions around -- manufacturing consent in 10 minutes flat. the
NYT will just run a whole series on bride burnings and harijans and m
teresa and voila, india will fall to 25th.
btw, the older generation's animosity towards india is entirely thanks
to 'chacha's' idiotic fulminations against the west.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ravi
*(Gallup poll) 80% of young Americans think favourably about India
Overall India ranks 6th in US favourability ratings*
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/feb/20/india-ranks-6th-in-us-favourability-ratings.htm
India ranks 6th in US favourability ratings February 20, 2010
In a public poll conducted by renowned US polling organisation Gallup,
Americans have placed India sixth on the annual ratings of 20 countries,
which have been in the news for the last one year.
*A total of 66 percent Americans participating in the poll considered India
as 'totally favourable'* -- of which nine percent labeled India as 'very
favourable', 57 percent Americans considered India as being 'mostly
favourable', while a mere five percent Americans considered India as 'very
unfavourable', the *Gallup* website said.
The rating reflected a change in generational thinking towards India.
Nearly *eight in every 10 young adults -- of the 18-34 age group -- thought
of India favourably*, while the popularity decreased with older participants
-- six in every 10 adults of 55 years and older favoured India.
India was preceded by Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Japan and Israel.
While Canada ranked first in Americans' opinion with 90 percent of the poll
participants favouring it, Iran ranked last in the list of 20 countries with
85 percent Americans not approving of the country.
China ranked 11th and Pakistan ranked 14th in the ratings.
The poll report said that Americans favoured eight of the countries rated in
this year's World Affairs survey that included India, apart from Great
Britain, Canada, Germany, Japan, Israel, France and Egypt.
The results are based on responses from 1,025 American adults, and the poll
was conducted between February 1 and 13, the *Gallup *website said.
4 comments:
Rajeev,
The problem with your argument on comparing India vs. China rankings is that it ignores the actual percentages. Less than half of the young Americans saw China or Pak as positive compared to 80% for India, which is a significant difference, thanks to our soft power of the much maligned Bollywood.
Secondly, Shanghai Times..oops the NYT and Chinaweek .. er... Businessweek run non-stop negative stories on India. Clearly this has not had much impact.
Was going through the comments on rediff.. came across this one, which asked, Is India going to get any benefits?
Any US Arms etc.? No.. What is the use of this, if Pakis get weapons and money....
US arms, oh yeah, we get arm twisted to get them against the wishes of the personnel who recommends them. And that too, without the tech transfer as promised by their European counterparts.
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/feb/20/us-dictating-indias-big-defence-deals.htm
well Sameer....
we Indians strive for brownie points..(and we get them.. like this survey..)we love when the white man says we are an "aspiring superpower".. we feel elated when he says u can "police the Indian Ocean (an ocean that is our backwater)"... etc...
lapdogs are generally loved by their masters....not respected..we are not american poodles yet, but we are on our way there..
so these "surveys" are supposed to make us feel good..and trust me lot of Indians (including our leaders are elated at such results).. If you want respect from the west we need hard nosed leaders who understand, defend and promote India's national interests (if only some of these leaders could distinguish that from their self interests...sigh..)!! we might one day get them...
these surveys are not even worth the paper their printed on and do not measure anything of significance to India's national interest...
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