What Indian immigrant success says about American Exceptionalism

What Indian immigrant success says about American Exceptionalism

India-born Sundar Pichai has been named CEO of the newly restructured Google. The former Google CEO, Larry Page will now be heading a much larger Google entity.

The news of Sundar Pichai’s appointment, a former student of prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), was well received in India, with newspaper headlines using words like “pride”, “joy” and the fulfilment of the proverbial “American Dream” for a fellow countryman.

The leading Indian Newspaper The Hindustan Times reported the Indian IT industry’s response to the news:

The Indian IT industry elated that 43-year-old Sundar Pichai is Google’s new CEO. Pichai, who will succeed Google co-founder Larry Page as CEO a decade after joining the Silicon Valley behemoth in 2004, symbolises a new India, and represents talent, technological innovation, and managerial acumen, an Indian IT industry executive said.

The new Google CEO Sundar Pichai will not be the lone Indian-origin CEO at the helm of Corporate American. He will be joining corporate heavyweights like Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella, PepsiCo’s Chairperson & CEO Indra Nooyi, and Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen — just to name a few.

Indians at home and abroad often highlight their country’s success in Information Technology, and rightly so. But a less advertised aspect of India’s success in IT-sector has been the contribution of Indians returning back from the Silicon Valley, California — bringing not only technical skills but also Silicon Valley’s attitude and values along with them. The truth is, there would be no Indian success story to report today if it was not for the Silicon Valley in the first place. Silicon Valley in turn is a product of entrepreneurship, spirit of enterprise and personal excellence — values that are quintessentially American.

However, the coverage in Indian media was not universally faltering. Columnist Wajahat Qazi, writing for the popular Indian news website First Post, talked about “the fading American dream”. Qazi, who often writes on religious issues and regards the advant of Islam in the Middle East as the “supremely creative event in the historical span of the region”, had some harsh words to say about America:

American society and polity is defined by the spirit of raw capitalism; this implies cut throat competition and even social Darwinism (…) The ‘American Dream’ has now morphed into an elitist privilege.

This line of attack against American and what America represents isn’t uniquely Indian. It could have been written by a Liberal Arts student at an American university. This argument is isn’t even new. Nikita Khrushchev was applauded by Western liberal intellectuals for pointing out the same iniquities of American capitalism, while Soviet jackboots were busy quelling behind the Iron Curtain.

However, the problem today is that the majority of Americans have accommodated themselves with this disingenuous and dishonest critique paddled by the left. The apologists of Third World police-states, theocracies and mediaeval doctrines are crying foul about America’s short coming and on one seems to be calling their bluff anymore. What’s even worse, these charlatans are treated by Western media as respectable intellectuals and “moral voices” of our time. Just as Left wanted America to unilaterally disarm itself in the middle of the Cold War, the same crown now wants America to abandon the very values that make America exceptional, unique and great.

There is nothing uniquely “liberal” and “progressive” — about being envious at the success of others. It is a defining feature of every third-world society. If more Americans were to embrace those flawed values, that would certainly lead to the “fundamental transformation” Left so dearly wished for America.

A recent immigrant from Australia to the U.S., Nick Adams tells us what makes America special:

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