The Most Surprising Things About America

[LowDown]

...according to an Indian International student.

Strong ethics — everyone has a lot of integrity. If someone cannot submit their completed assignment in time, they will turn in the assignment incomplete rather than asking for answers at the last minute. People take pride in their hard work and usually do not cheat. This is different from students from India and China as well as back home in India, where everyone collaborates to the extent that it can be categorized as cheating.”

...An almost-classless society: I’ve noticed that most Americans roughly have the same standard of living. Everybody has access to ample food, everybody shops at the same supermarkets, malls, stores, etc. I’ve seen plumbers, construction workers and janitors driving their own sedans, which was quite difficult for me to digest at first since I came from a country where construction workers and plumbers lived hand to mouth.

Many Americans are not aware of the contrast. I expect several people to reply with a "Yeah, but..." bit of crap, but there's just no question that America is .... exceptional. And in a good way. But if you really must disrespect America the author of the article has a few bad things to say about it, like the people who work in stores here are not poor enough to want to give you really good personal service.

 

[Rainman05]

...according to an Indian International student.



Many Americans are not aware of the contrast. I expect several people to reply with a "Yeah, but..." bit of crap, but there's just no question that America is .... exceptional. And in a good way. But if you really must disrespect America the author of the article has a few bad things to say about it, like the people who work in stores here are not poor enough to want to give you really good personal service.

Well india is a backwater country. It has westernized (or in the process of westernized) large cities that are the hub of modernization and new companies, and the vast majority of the indian subcontinent is basically in the same social place it was hundred of years ago thanks to hinduism and hindu cultural practices, including karma, dharma and the other 2 pillars that are key to the caste system. A horrible thing that has existed in india for thousands of years.

The indians who go to the US to study are the ones from the richer families. the ones who have successful jobs and careers in the large cities and who can afford to send their offsprings overseas.

 

[ttwtt78640]

America is often described as a place where even the poorest of the people are fat.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Many prefer to compare the USA to its European allies instead, that enjoy the protection of the U.S. military (and the vast expenditure required to sustain it) without worry of providing much for their own defense. While the U.S. can certainly do better, in many areas, it meets or exceeds the overall freedom and opportunity offered nearly anywhere else - or why would so many people more people wish to come here than to leave here?

 

[Medusa]

Well india is a backwater country. It has westernized (or in the process of westernized) large cities that are the hub of modernization and new companies, and the vast majority of the indian subcontinent is basically in the same social place it was hundred of years ago thanks to hinduism and hindu cultural practices, including karma, dharma and the other 2 pillars that are key to the caste system. A horrible thing that has existed in india for thousands of years.

The indians who go to the US to study are the ones from the richer families. the ones who have successful jobs and careers in the large cities and who can afford to send their offsprings overseas.

it is called aryan cast system created by the white man


Aryans arrived in India around 1500 BC. The fair skinned Aryans arrived in India from south Europe and north Asia. Before the Aryans there were other communities in India of other origins. Among them Negrito, Mongoloid, Austroloid and Dravidian. The Negrito have physical features similar to people of Africa. The Mongoloid have Chinese features. The Austroloids have features similar the aboriginals of Australia. The Dravidians originate from the Mediterranean and they were the largest community in India. When the Aryans arrived in India their main contact was with the Dravidians and the Austroloids. The Aryans disregarded the local cultures. They began conquering and taking control over regions in north India and at the same time pushed the local people southwards or towards the jungles and mountains in north India.


The origins of the caste system in India

 

[KevinKohler]

Kung fu was invented in India. True story.

 

[Carjosse]

Well you'll get that considering India is a second-world country versus a very developed U.S..

 

[LowDown]

Well india is a backwater country. It has westernized (or in the process of westernized) large cities that are the hub of modernization and new companies, and the vast majority of the indian subcontinent is basically in the same social place it was hundred of years ago thanks to hinduism and hindu cultural practices, including karma, dharma and the other 2 pillars that are key to the caste system. A horrible thing that has existed in india for thousands of years.

The indians who go to the US to study are the ones from the richer families. the ones who have successful jobs and careers in the large cities and who can afford to send their offsprings overseas.

My my, but you really are not with multiculturalism at all. Tsk!

 

[P. Kersey]

America is often described as a place where even the poorest of the people are fat.

..and have flat screen tv's and cell phones and nintendo (or whatever) and air conditioning,and a car and electricity..etc...

 

[Cyrylek]

When my father (a Pole who had to spend nearly all his life in the freaking USSR) had visited me in Massachusetts/New Hampshire first time (1991?), he loved most everything, but at some point, averting his eyes, he said:

- You know, this is a great civilization, so much to admire, but...I can't shake the feeling that America is going to fall apart...
-?
- Too many retarded people...
-?
- Well, I walk around here, and every second person on the street smiles at me, like an idiot. Some even wave their hands, like if they knew me from somewhere...

"Food for thought"?

 

[ttwtt78640]

..and have flat screen tv's and cell phones and nintendo (or whatever) and air conditioning,and a car and electricity..etc...

Yep. I am "poor" (average about $350/week income) and have all that.

 

[P. Kersey]

When my father (a Pole who had to spend nearly all his life in the freaking USSR) had visited me in Massachusetts/New Hampshire first time (1991?), he loved most everything, but at some point, averting his eyes, he said:

- You know, this is a great civilization, so much to admire, but...I can't shake the feeling that America is going to fall apart...
-?
- Too many retarded people...
-?
- Well, I walk around here, and every second person on the street smiles at me, like an idiot. Some even wave their hands, like if they knew me from somewhere...

"Food for thought"?

Your father is/was very astute. Great assessment.
It's the natural course of every nation in history, though. We're on borrowed time. It's inevitable.


I got the following in an email and it was unattributed otherwise I would credit the author.



About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government."

"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury."

"From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years"
"During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage"

Consider this,
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million plus criminal invaders called "illegal's" and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the US of A in fewer than five years.

 

[ChezC3]

America is often described as a place where even the poorest of the people are fat.

That's because McD's has a dollar menu...

 

[TheGirlNextDoor]

When my father (a Pole who had to spend nearly all his life in the freaking USSR) had visited me in Massachusetts/New Hampshire first time (1991?), he loved most everything, but at some point, averting his eyes, he said:

- You know, this is a great civilization, so much to admire, but...I can't shake the feeling that America is going to fall apart...
-?
- Too many retarded people...
-?
- Well, I walk around here, and every second person on the street smiles at me, like an idiot. Some even wave their hands, like if they knew me from somewhere...

"Food for thought"?

Retarded people?

Care to clarify? I work with actual "retarded" people and I wonder if you mean stupid, Which isn't the same. :neutral:

 

[spud_meister]

Well india is a backwater country. It has westernized (or in the process of westernized) large cities that are the hub of modernization and new companies, and the vast majority of the indian subcontinent is basically in the same social place it was hundred of years ago thanks to hinduism and hindu cultural practices, including karma, dharma and the other 2 pillars that are key to the caste system. A horrible thing that has existed in india for thousands of years.

The indians who go to the US to study are the ones from the richer families. the ones who have successful jobs and careers in the large cities and who can afford to send their offsprings overseas.

The caste system is largely non-existent now days, they've had Prime Ministers came from classes previously considered "untouchable", and the caste system itself was only codified and enforced by the British, prior to that it was a minor part of life. India is rapidly changing, and there is a lot of economic mobility, the children and grandchildren of farmers are now making up the middle class, and are the one's that are sending their kids overseas to study.

 

[P. Kersey]

Retarded people?

Care to clarify? I work with actual "retarded" people and I wonder if you mean stupid, Which isn't the same. :neutral:

Good evening..I'm not his lawyer, but I think he was relating a story about observations his elderly father made (who wasn't born in this country and MAY have had a limited vocabulary in english).
The point he made is valid, I think, though.

 

[Cyrylek]

Retarded people?

Care to clarify? I work with actual "retarded" people and I wonder if you mean stupid, Which isn't the same. :neutral:

Clarification: For someone who spent his whole life in a cage of a totalitarian regime, our predominant lack of the fixed facial expression advertising suspicion and hostility was a sign of mental insufficiency.

 

[Rainman05]

The caste system is largely non-existent now days, they've had Prime Ministers came from classes previously considered "untouchable", and the caste system itself was only codified and enforced by the British, prior to that it was a minor part of life. India is rapidly changing, and there is a lot of economic mobility, the children and grandchildren of farmers are now making up the middle class, and are the one's that are sending their kids overseas to study.

The caste system is widespread and exists for most of the population that doesn't live in the large, westernized urban areas. And it was the main part of life before the british came in, the British just let it live so that the population wouldn't rebel. That's how you colonials happy, you don't take away what they find important. For instance, the British took away slavery, by abolishing it, and when they enforced the abolishment of slavery in all of india, the indians weren't happy. So 10-15 years later, due to this reason and others, they rebelled and basically ended the east india trading company. Of course, their rebellions wasn't successful. they were eventually squashed by the british.

India is changing, no doubt. it's westernizing. But it's not like this. That's just fantasy. Farmers are not part of the middle class. their children will continue to be farmers and not part of the middle class. unless of course, you and I have different understandings of what middle class is. Over 30% of indians are in poverty and 40% are not very much above that line. That leaves less than 30% of the total indian population better off than borderline poverty or upper-poor class.

And while dalits have had massive life improvements and social reforms impacted on them, they were just the dalits living in the westernized urban areas. For the rest of the country, it's like those reforms don't even exist.

 

[poweRob]

...according to an Indian International student.



Many Americans are not aware of the contrast. I expect several people to reply with a "Yeah, but..." bit of crap, but there's just no question that America is .... exceptional. And in a good way. But if you really must disrespect America the author of the article has a few bad things to say about it, like the people who work in stores here are not poor enough to want to give you really good personal service.

Not sure the purpose of this thread. I guess it's to say "we're #1 so just give up trying anymore" I suppose.

 

[cpwill]

The caste system is largely non-existent now days, they've had Prime Ministers came from classes previously considered "untouchable", and the caste system itself was only codified and enforced by the British, prior to that it was a minor part of life. India is rapidly changing, and there is a lot of economic mobility, the children and grandchildren of farmers are now making up the middle class, and are the one's that are sending their kids overseas to study.

That is.... very interesting.

 

[Gaugingcatenate]

Yep. I am "poor" (average about $350/week income) and have all that.

I hear ya loud and clear Tweetie, and understand the point.

My brother worked part time for Pizza Hut, had two kids and a wife, owned his own house, had a restored porche [ think it was like a '68-69] besides his regular car, had some additional land outside the city, played music on weekends at a bar up the mountain from Albuquerque, and ate just about anything he wanted. He is not skinny.

What we have here, even as the semi poor, is beyond the utopian dreams of the rich a hundred years ago. As I go tooling 70 mph down a smooth highway, electric windows rolled up, my environmental controls allowing me to adjust to the perfect temperature and the tunes I want to rock out to playing all around me... I can stop in for a quick bite to eat without ever getting out of my car... and in 6 hours I can be in Charleston, SC for some great seafood, lobster, shrimp, yummy stuff...

Human history, for the vast majority of the people who ever lived on this great planet, and they often did not live all that long, was slogging through the mud or sand, filthy and dirt eating poor... with not much prospect of it getting much better and...watch out for the next pestilence or plague, pirate or plunderer... maybe never in their life to have even once have had as good, and sometimes absolutely sumptuous, a meal as I have practically every night [ and if I so chose, it would be every night...I just cannot be bothered to make sure, ha ha ha ].

Anybody that complains about the lifestyle here, besides the politics, where we are headed [ and I hear ya KP, nice post, scary tho ] and etc... a lifestyle that can be so easily achieved here with just the minimal investment of time and effort...well, you just do not want to appreciate what it is you have, you apparently want to be jealous of what you don't have. That a happy person does not make [ Sounds like Al Sharpton with his lyrical incongruities at times ].

 

[LowDown]

The caste system is largely non-existent now days, they've had Prime Ministers came from classes previously considered "untouchable", and the caste system itself was only codified and enforced by the British, prior to that it was a minor part of life. India is rapidly changing, and there is a lot of economic mobility, the children and grandchildren of farmers are now making up the middle class, and are the one's that are sending their kids overseas to study.

It would be going too far to say that the caste system was a minor part of India prior to the British. The caste system had become fairly rigid and hereditary well before the British although it is probably true that there was more mobility among castes back then than we have traditionally supposed.

 

[Dittohead not!]

I’ve seen plumbers, construction workers and janitors driving their own sedans, which was quite difficult for me to digest at first since I came from a country where construction workers and plumbers lived hand to mouth.

Must be those terrible unions ruining the country again. Just think how cheap plumbing and construction would be if we only didn't pay the workers enough to buy luxuries like cars.

 

[Neomalthusian]

On CNN this morning, Fareed Zakaria (another Indian transplant) pointed out something interesting about global poverty:

It's dropped significantly in the last couple decades, but that is almost entirely thanks to China, whose success is almost entirely thanks to capitalist growth.

India, by contrast, has not done quite as well. On one hand, half of Indians lived on less than $1.25 a day back in 1980 as opposed to around 20% now (which seems like a huge improvement), however almost the same NUMBER of Indians still live on $1.25.

So like everywhere else... it's not that humans suck at alleviating poverty -- after all we love growth and development and technology. No, the problem is that the people all over the world who are least positioned to raise children are the ones having the most children. We're advancing as fast as we can, but the poor classes are reproducing even faster.

 

[Goshin]

When my father (a Pole who had to spend nearly all his life in the freaking USSR) had visited me in Massachusetts/New Hampshire first time (1991?), he loved most everything, but at some point, averting his eyes, he said:

- You know, this is a great civilization, so much to admire, but...I can't shake the feeling that America is going to fall apart...
-?
- Too many retarded people...
-?
- Well, I walk around here, and every second person on the street smiles at me, like an idiot. Some even wave their hands, like if they knew me from somewhere...

"Food for thought"?

Different culture, different customs. Of course.

Amusing anecdote though.