Hi there. I'm an American-born Bengali. I've noticed that a lot of Bengali people tend not to know a lot about their country and consistently bash Bangladesh in public forums. Let me provide a few examples to explain what I mean:
/watch?v=MoMifNO4w6s This video on youtube talks about how Dhaka is the fastest growing megacity in the world. A commenter posted:
"and despite all this they continue to **** like rabbits
reckless irresponsible lowlives"
That's a pretty bleak statement to make, especially considering that Bangladesh is a unique poor country that managed to decreased its population growth BEFORE achieving economic growth.
Hans Rosling explains it much better in this Gapcast video than I ever could (from youtube): (/watch?v=jAJC2YAJw_A)
Here's another comment from the Dhaka-megacity video:
growing megacity ? what the **** is wrong with these people , its corrupt and poor , god bless and help the poor and **** the bangladeshi goverment and theyre dhaka its a **** hole !
Poverty in Bangladesh has dropped by 8.5% in the last 5yrs - that's pretty good.
Bangladesh has climbed from the bottom of the Corruption Perception Index for 5yrs in a row (2001-2005) to rank 120 in the world (2011). Corruption Perception Index is rated out of 10 & Bangladesh has current rating of 2.7 < very bad but better than rating of 1.0 it had in 2001-2005.
Here's one possible reason why Bengalis bash Bangladesh so consistently: Bengali people have high (unrealistic) expectations from Bangladesh & when they don't get that perfection, they complain. This isn't very pragmatic or smart. Bangladesh isn't going to turn into Sweden overnight - the important thing is to show improvement. Also important, perception about how a country is doing plays a significant role in attracting foreign investment so it makes ZERO sense for Bengalis to bash Bangladesh in a public forum needlessly.
So Bengalis: keep it real. Don't say Bangladesh is pooping rainbows but don't make it out to be a total gutter when it's actually showing significant improvement.
Also: INVEST in BANGLADESH
It's the fiscally intelligent thing to do!