> What bugs me are people, largely motivated by financial interests, in my opinion, who downplay the massive cultural and social advantages we still enjoy in the west over places like India. We may be dealing with demographic challenges and sometimes sclerotic economics, but I'd take France in decline over any BRIC country on a supposed upswing any day of the week... But the almighty dollar is the most important thing, right? As long as there is money in doing business in India (or the Middle East), we can just chalk all this up to "cultural differences" that we must be "accommodating" of.
I don't know whether it is financial. I think there is a "grass is greener across the pacific" type of attitude. I have spent 2/3rds of my life in Africa and India; it is jarring to hear from these rich clueless Americans of how wonderful and peaceful these places are; how any problems they have are all due to the evil white man. It strikes me as a sort of Manic Pixie Dream Girl [1] type approach taken at the nation level. It is especially interesting considering that there is cognitive dissonance amongst immigrants. They claw their way here and then romanticize the old country once they are securely out.
I usually criticize Brazil (the B in BRIC), which is my home country, in comments, but I must correct you here.
Regarding respect for people - be it that they are women, or members of minorities - Brazil doesn't have the issues those other countries face (and I wonder what the situation is like in Russia).
Women in Brazil enjoy the same level of freedom they would enjoy in America or Europe. There is no strong patriarchal culture in place, and there is as little misogyny as there is in America. In fact, a lot of Brazilian girls are sick and tired of Americans and Europeans that go to Brazil and treat them with much less respect than local guys do, because for some reason white foreigners mostly seem to think Brazilian girls are super easy (they are only very, very nice, but that doesn't mean they are nymphomaniacs) and that they all dance naked during Carnival (most of them don't).
Regarding minorities, while there is debate about racism and all, it is much less of an issue than say in America. My wife and I were surprised by how big of deal that kind of thing is here in America. I guess in Brazil we're just used to living with lots of people of varying ethnicities and don't care much about their color or whatever. Of course there is racism, and there is a clear racial aspect in the social divide, but again it's way less of an issue than it is in America.
There is that also, but the financial aspect is separate. India is a major growth zone right now, and lots of American companies are seeking to expand into the Indian marketplace. There is thus a strong desire to play up the culture there and play down the culture here, and paper over things like widespread sexual assault. After all, if you're relocating an entire division to India, the narrative has to be about how you'll not just save money,b but how much better India is than the U.S. in other respects.
I don't know whether it is financial. I think there is a "grass is greener across the pacific" type of attitude. I have spent 2/3rds of my life in Africa and India; it is jarring to hear from these rich clueless Americans of how wonderful and peaceful these places are; how any problems they have are all due to the evil white man. It strikes me as a sort of Manic Pixie Dream Girl [1] type approach taken at the nation level. It is especially interesting considering that there is cognitive dissonance amongst immigrants. They claw their way here and then romanticize the old country once they are securely out.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Pixie_Dream_Girl