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> I hope this article opens peoples' eyes to the fact that the US-based-or-english-speaking countries are soon going to be a relatively small portion of the wor

> I hope this article opens peoples' eyes to the fact that the US-based-or-english-speaking countries are soon going to be a relatively small portion of the world. We need news sources like this to practice the globalization sermon they all preach. Agreed. It's not just in the tech sector, and not just in the commerce sector either. The US (and many English-speaking countries) tend to be incredibly US-centric and euro-centric in their worldview and news coverage. For example, right now, the world's largest democracy is holding the largest democratic election in the history of human civilization[0]. In the US, you'd be hard-pressed to find people who even know the names of the candidates[1]. Most people I talk to aren't even aware that it's happening - which is delightfully ironic for a country that has a history of proselytizing the gospel of democracy by using its military to install "democratic" governments abroad[2]! [0] For those interested in reading up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_general_election,_2014 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_general_election,_2014 [1] Sort of a trick question in parliamentary systems (as opposed to the presidential system in the US), but my statement applies whether you ask about the names of the two major parties or the names of their leaders. [2] Iraq is the example that most people are familiar with, though this tradition goes back a century or more.

notahacker 12y ago
To be fair, most Indians - including highly educated middle class Indians - probably don't have a clue about which parties several hundred million Europeans are about to cast their votes for later this month[1], or who's winning the South African election right now. [1]neither do several hundred million Europeans
eshvk 12y ago
> The US (and many English-speaking countries) tend to be incredibly US-centric and euro-centric in their worldview and news coverage. For example, right now, the world's largest democracy is holding the largest democratic election in the history of human civilization[0]. I find this attitude very weird. Every time I encounter it in the real world, it comes off as a humble brag. As in, oh the rest of the west is so ignorant and dumb, me? I know all about your culture. From my experience, huge demographics of people around the world don't really care about what happens outside their tribes. On the other hand, no one goes around chiding say Indian villagers on why they are not more aware of the complex inter-dynamics of the current Russian-European conflict. Somehow expecting everyone to be aware of your favorite world topic appears to be the same equivalent of assuming that everyone that writes code be well versed in whatever stack you are familiar in.

notahacker 12y ago

To be fair, most Indians - including highly educated middle class Indians - probably don't have a clue about which parties several hundred million Europeans are about to cast their votes for later this month[1], or who's winning the South African election right now. [1]neither do several hundred million Europeans

eshvk 12y ago

> The US (and many English-speaking countries) tend to be incredibly US-centric and euro-centric in their worldview and news coverage. For example, right now, the world's largest democracy is holding the largest democratic election in the history of human civilization[0]. I find this attitude very weird. Every time I encounter it in the real world, it comes off as a humble brag. As in, oh the rest of the west is so ignorant and dumb, me? I know all about your culture. From my experience, huge demographics of people around the world don't really care about what happens outside their tribes. On the other hand, no one goes around chiding say Indian villagers on why they are not more aware of the complex inter-dynamics of the current Russian-European conflict. Somehow expecting everyone to be aware of your favorite world topic appears to be the same equivalent of assuming that everyone that writes code be well versed in whatever stack you are familiar in.