Is India the best country in the world to live in?
While Americans are on the brink of making their country "great" once again, Indians are already convinced that India IS the greatest country in the world.
A poll conducted by YouGov in October reveals which nations of the world think highly of themselves. No surprises that India comes only second to the United States with 41 per cent people pretty convinced that they live in the "best country" in the world. Demonetisation, what's that? Cash crunch? No problem.
The poll's snapshot was shared on Reddit India's thread and people just flipped out.
One of the users wrote, "This chart has more to do with the psychological fact that Indians lie to themselves in order to rationalise and justify their life decisions just to put their conscience at ease. It's human nature to overlook the negatives of a country when they have invested a lot of time & money in that particular country. For instance... Indians who have spent good money for a life in US wouldn't return to India voluntarily/instantly because of black lives matter protests, random police shootings or President-elect Trump. Same applies to a nurse who has taken loans to go to a Middle Eastern country. She would just care about repaying her loans, not the moral ethics or foreign policy of that country."
People of France, Germany, and Vietnam have the lowest confidence in their country and certainly don't think it's the best in the world.
Some more reactions that range from the hilarious to the hopeless:
"If the economics improves, the reverse will happen too. Many Indians outside do retain a deep cultural and familial relationship back home. As I talk to international students from China, I see that a majority are willing to go back home and work because pay is competitive for them. There might be a bit of bias here because I went to business school and there is a significant start-up culture in China that pays well. But nonetheless, this tells me that there is a price at which people will move back home, even if that entails a pay cut. It's just how big of a pay cut is worth the comfort of living close to family. This holds true for me as well. As I see the business culture changing in India, I have increasingly gone back to collaborating with Indian start-ups and might move back and forth and eventually even move back. There is a big culture gap."
"Not surprising. We have been taught from a very young age to sing everyday 'saare jahan se achcha, hindustan humara'. It's brainwashing."
"This message was approved by UNESCO."
Looks like "saare jahan se achcha, Hindustan hamara" just got an opinion poll to give it a fresh boost. Watch out for this to pop up in the UP elections posters next. Who's complaining?
Also read - Great day for India, UNESCO has just declared you an A grade moron