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In general, Indians living abroad are highly supportive of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Not his party, or his government, or his policies ... just h

In general, Indians living abroad are highly supportive of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Not his party, or his government, or his policies ... just him personally. Hacker News contains many such people. They are responsible for the bizarre comments you've read on this thread. On a related note, this thread will soon be flagged, like all threads that are even mildly, indirectly critical of Narendra Modi. Enjoy the thread while it's up.

max_hammer 5y ago
Anyone having a different opinion than me is wrong ?
- renewiltord 5y ago
  No, that’s not true. But in this case, the grandparent comment is correct. The current Indian Prime Minister is very popular among Bay Area Indians and techies and so they will defend him nearly always.
  - sharadov 5y ago
    Also India leads the way in shutting down the internet at the smallest sign of dissent, under Modi it has slowly but surely devolved into an authoritarian state https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50819905 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50819905 https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/asia/india-internet-cut-farmers-intl-hnk/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/asia/india-internet-cut-farme...
  - sharadov 5y ago
    Oh yeah they love him to death, try having a rational conversation with them and it quickly devolves into personal attacks.
  - tsycho 5y ago
    That's another broad generalization. I know many Bay Area Indians, and within my personal circles, a majority of them are anti-Modi and have been so pre-Covid too. That said, the amount of unquestionable Trump-like support for Modi is truly baffling.
    - nindalf 5y ago
      Modi’s personal popularity among ex-pat Indians is because of his elevator pitch - Make India Great Again. These folks left India because of shortcomings they perceived in the country, from cronyism to redtape to lack of opportunities. And Modi is going to fix all of these problems! That makes them feel good, so they support him.
    - srean 5y ago
      Nindalf's position is not that all Bay Area Indians are blind and aggressive Modi fans. So your observation does not really contest that. Your honor, I can present many who did not witness me murdering X
dang 5y ago
This generalization comes up in every polarized thread about every polarized topic. Literally every side that feels passionately on such a topic feels like the community is outrageously biased against their side. For every sarcastic and aggrieved "anything that supports $X will get downvoted and flagged" or "anything even mildly critical will get $Y", there are isomorphic comments from the opposing side which are just as sarcastic and aggrieved, only with the obvious bit flipped. In reality, the community is divided similarly to how society at large is divided. But the actual experience of this is extremely difficult to bear when we're all bumping into each other in one big Brownian room. I wrote about this at length here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098. Each side is so upset by the manifestations of the other side that they come to see them as utterly dominating the community. This is out of proportion numerically, but that's because it's not a numerical experience but an emotional one. We humans place a much greater emphasis on what we dislike than what we like—the bad (e.g. what you disagree with) stands out more than the good (what you agree with), and you are much more likely to notice it and weight it more heavily [1]. This is what leads to false feelings of generality [2]. Unfortunately it also leads to the feeling of being surrounded by enemies or, as I sometimes put it, demons [3]. This dynamic encourages flamewars, because each side feels like it is the righteous underdog in an unfairly biased situation, and anyone who feels that way will feel justified in lashing out in "defense". If the combatants in such a situation could really see how closely they are mirroring each other, it would surely change something somehow. I definitely don't mean to pick on you personally, nor the theme of Indian politics in particular; it's just one of many, and this dynamic seems to be universal. I think the next big phase of work we need to do as a community is to develop more awareness of it, and that's work that we all need to contribute to. [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20dislike%20notice&sort=byDate&type=story&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... [2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20false%20feelings%20of%20generality&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... [3] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=demons%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...
- BugsJustFindMe 5y ago
naruvimama 5y ago
Not only abroad but also in India. That is why he is the democratically elected leader of the largest democracy. And by extension perhaps the most popular or trusted person in the world. The fact that he rose from poverty with no family connections has rubbed on the wrong side of many princes in waiting and their entourage.
naruvimama 5y ago
By extension people on HN critical of Modi are mostly neither Indian, never been in India or have no clue what they are talking about other than unsubstantiated criticism for political reason.

max_hammer 5y ago

Anyone having a different opinion than me is wrong ?

renewiltord 5y ago
No, that’s not true. But in this case, the grandparent comment is correct. The current Indian Prime Minister is very popular among Bay Area Indians and techies and so they will defend him nearly always.
- sharadov 5y ago
  Also India leads the way in shutting down the internet at the smallest sign of dissent, under Modi it has slowly but surely devolved into an authoritarian state https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50819905 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50819905 https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/asia/india-internet-cut-farmers-intl-hnk/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/asia/india-internet-cut-farme...
- sharadov 5y ago
  Oh yeah they love him to death, try having a rational conversation with them and it quickly devolves into personal attacks.
- tsycho 5y ago
  That's another broad generalization. I know many Bay Area Indians, and within my personal circles, a majority of them are anti-Modi and have been so pre-Covid too. That said, the amount of unquestionable Trump-like support for Modi is truly baffling.
  - nindalf 5y ago
    Modi’s personal popularity among ex-pat Indians is because of his elevator pitch - Make India Great Again. These folks left India because of shortcomings they perceived in the country, from cronyism to redtape to lack of opportunities. And Modi is going to fix all of these problems! That makes them feel good, so they support him.
  - srean 5y ago
    Nindalf's position is not that all Bay Area Indians are blind and aggressive Modi fans. So your observation does not really contest that. Your honor, I can present many who did not witness me murdering X

dang 5y ago

This generalization comes up in every polarized thread about every polarized topic. Literally every side that feels passionately on such a topic feels like the community is outrageously biased against their side. For every sarcastic and aggrieved "anything that supports $X will get downvoted and flagged" or "anything even mildly critical will get $Y", there are isomorphic comments from the opposing side which are just as sarcastic and aggrieved, only with the obvious bit flipped. In reality, the community is divided similarly to how society at large is divided. But the actual experience of this is extremely difficult to bear when we're all bumping into each other in one big Brownian room. I wrote about this at length here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098. Each side is so upset by the manifestations of the other side that they come to see them as utterly dominating the community. This is out of proportion numerically, but that's because it's not a numerical experience but an emotional one. We humans place a much greater emphasis on what we dislike than what we like—the bad (e.g. what you disagree with) stands out more than the good (what you agree with), and you are much more likely to notice it and weight it more heavily [1]. This is what leads to false feelings of generality [2]. Unfortunately it also leads to the feeling of being surrounded by enemies or, as I sometimes put it, demons [3]. This dynamic encourages flamewars, because each side feels like it is the righteous underdog in an unfairly biased situation, and anyone who feels that way will feel justified in lashing out in "defense". If the combatants in such a situation could really see how closely they are mirroring each other, it would surely change something somehow. I definitely don't mean to pick on you personally, nor the theme of Indian politics in particular; it's just one of many, and this dynamic seems to be universal. I think the next big phase of work we need to do as a community is to develop more awareness of it, and that's work that we all need to contribute to. [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20dislike%20notice&sort=byDate&type=story&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... [2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20false%20feelings%20of%20generality&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... [3] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=demons%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...

BugsJustFindMe 5y ago

naruvimama 5y ago

Not only abroad but also in India. That is why he is the democratically elected leader of the largest democracy. And by extension perhaps the most popular or trusted person in the world. The fact that he rose from poverty with no family connections has rubbed on the wrong side of many princes in waiting and their entourage.

naruvimama 5y ago

By extension people on HN critical of Modi are mostly neither Indian, never been in India or have no clue what they are talking about other than unsubstantiated criticism for political reason.