We should never see this in our country. Arranged marriage completely violates the concept of individual freedom.
I would guess almost every American finds this repugnant and will reject it.
Boycotting eharmony, Hello Dolly and Fiddler on the Roof, are we?
A couple years ago I went to a wedding reception in Edison, New Jersey. The wedding itself had taken place in India. It was an arranged marriage freely entered, and the couple seemed VERY happy. The parents of a school friend of mine, educated Indians, had an arranged marriage, and again they were happy - thought that families made wise and benevolent decisions for their children. That marriage is going on fifty years now.
Three days a week I go to Lakewood, NJ, which is 70% ultra-orthodox Jewish. Arranged marriages, freely entered, are very common among them, and while I can’t judge the happiness of any of those marriages, family and community are strong there.
Arranged marriage is here, all right. There’s nothing repugnant about it, as long as it is not forced.
Yeah, we here in America are definitely auhtorities on what it takes to have a successful marriage, aren’t we? Not!
Ever wonder why families sacrifice to send their daughters to college?
Only guy who kept his wife "locked up" was next door, and one day she bought a little yellow car, a set of blue jeans, a halter top, and TOOK OFF.
Having the elders "match you up" seems to prepare you for live as a refugee in America.
I would guess almost every American finds this repugnant and will reject it.
I would guess that you would be wrong. Men in America used to ask for the approval and permission of the family to marry their intended. And families didn't give permission if the man couldn't support her. This sort of thing has a long history in the US and everywhere else. Marriage is a community concern and the community has historically made its opinion known. Arranged marriage is another form of that.
We've seen plenty of this in the United States. Lots of cultures (various eastern & Jewish are two that come immediately to mind) do this all the time.
From my own experience, most of the Greek kids I went to high school with were eventually married in arranged marriages and I can say two things: 1). As far as I know, all of them - every last one - are still married & seem to be as happy as the rest of us. 2) There's much more to marriage than romantic love, as hard as that is for Americans to believe. It isn't anywhere near "number one" in some cultures. Marriage is a much more practical institution elsewhere in the world.
We can learn a lot from cultures whose divorce statistics are so much lower than ours. Stuff like: when romantic love seems to be gone, it isn't time to just up & quit.
And: honesty, decency and the willingness to work hard and stick it out are more important factors in choosing a mate than the kind of car a guy drives or how a girl looks in a bikini; but too many Americans don't look at those things and we pay an incredibly high price for that.