People in India are angry at Snapchat but they are boycotting a wrong app
snapchatdaily.com
snapchatdaily.com
On the contrary, countries like the US, Australia, etc. are far more tolerant of public remarks like this. Had Evan said that the French are too stupid to use Snapchat (for example), no one would have even batted an eye.
We're terribly insecure, but that is in part fuelled by how much we get looked down upon. The Indian reaction to mockery and racism during the British era was pumping up nationalism and self-pride. That was a justified reaction to a truly evil empire, but unfortunately, that culture has not evolved after independence.
I know nothing about Indian and Spanish culture so I can't speculate on the reason.
I take it you aren't familiar with the term PIGS[1]. "Poor countries like Spain" is a common sentiment in Europe.
> PIGS or PIIGS or PIIGGS is an acronym used in economics and finance. The PIGS acronym originally refers, often derogatorily, to the economies of the Southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.[1][2][3][4][5] During the European debt crisis, the term was also increasingly used to refer to the economies of Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, four EU member states that were unable to refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks on their own during the crisis
And the PIGS weren't the poorest countries in Europe; they were the most over-leveraged. Spain is much better-off than Bulgaria and Romania -- and certainly much better-off than a genuinely poor country.
If you'd like to explain why you took offense to my comment, please do. I'd like to foster discussion where people do not take personal offense to my words on a message board when I didn't mean to offend anyone. I'd legitimately appreciate any feedback you have.
> And the PIGS weren't the poorest countries in Europe;
I'm not talking about objective reality, but about popular public perception.
N≥1; I couldn't have said what it was.
Obviously, its always only a vocal minority which participates in #Boycott, but same is the case in India too! On the other hand, "as an Indian" you should not be so much affected by this #Protest. Please remember that India is a vast country and no single group represents can represent all of India. And this action is quite trivial (and non-violent!) and 0% (after rounding off) of the population participated in it.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-target-botched-its-response...
(That said people say unnecessary things when they should just follow the golden rule.)
Outrage culture is the norm in social media era. U.S is a big market, I think very few companies is dare to insult it on a national scale. And US is rich, such idiotic remark is just going to be ignored for it is simply not true. But it doesn't mean if something sensitive is touched, there wouldn't be a backlash, such as race.
I think poverty is still a big issue in India, and people are sensitive to be looked down because of that. So it comes the outrage.
So i don't think there's anything to be bothered about. I think billions of Indians are just going about there business and not shouting out on twitter. Of-course there are other serious social problems/believes that bother me more. But only a few of them are ever discussed on social media.
We have natural expectation that people would stop to learn the facts and make a smart choice but that's not how it works. Social media triggers a strong impulsive response and people react by doing whatever they've been asked.
I do agree that what aggravates this is irrational feeling of nationalism and defending country's pride among our folks.
If more people were willing to do this, "vote with your dollars" would transform from an ideal that might work in theory to a vehicle of effectual influence on the market.
These messages reached audiences that had never heard about Snapchat, and in some cases, had never reviewed apps before.
This was a case of "manufactured outrage" by social influencers and the media, and I think it showcases mob-like tendencies when it comes to subjects like national pride. Many memes appeared cheering India's billionaires claiming they'd buy out Snapchat. In normal circumstances, the billionaire class in India is routinely accused of stashing money in Swiss bank accs.
What a glorious mess.
There are plenty of reasons to have a smartphone regardless of age or employment. If nothing else, messaging apps are an important part of socialization.
Point is, this happens everywhere and people are irrational.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/02/snap-interactive-shares-brief...
A faceless mob can ruin your business if one "social influencer" chooses to.
It wouldn't surprise me if companies began leaking news stories that would trigger fiery reactions against competitors. For e.g. Facebook could keep Snapchat from ever expanding in India if it were to covertly portray Snap/Evan as disrespectful towards Indians. Social media influencers could profit from providing back-channel services to corporates.