The cultural belief that other countries do things better is what you describe. It's pretty Australian and American to think your country is the best at most things.
> It's pretty Australian to think your country is the best at most things.
What? Australia is the land that gave the world the term “cultural cringe”. Often something is described as “world class” to justify its quality (whether correctly or not) by an external reference.
If you move to the USA you’ll see the opposite: people implicitly assume that the local thing is the world’s best, and don’t even bother to say so as they assume it’s self-evidentially so. The other country I’ve lived in where this is true is France, which is possibly why they criticize each other so much.*
Of course the truth is that each of these places does some things well and some not so well.
* The French also moan a lot — it feels like the national pastime — but that’s different.
As an Australian... I have no idea where this idea comes from. American Exceptionalism has historically been a thing, but other than a general impression that equipment which have been designed and built locally in Australia tend to be above average assuming that it wasn’t built to be the cheapest... the idea that “our stuff is the best” has never really been a thing, except maybe Beer... and only among people who are obviously fans of that beer.
Edit: This might be an east coast vs west coast of Australia thing. I’m from Western Australia and I just realised that this might be more of an east coast cultural thing...
Are you saying that Ozzies regard their beer as world-beating
Australians are very proud of their flagship beers, Fosters and Castlemaine XXXX, but they are not considered premium products in any country with a beer-drinking tradition.
What? Australia is the land that gave the world the term “cultural cringe”. Often something is described as “world class” to justify its quality (whether correctly or not) by an external reference.
If you move to the USA you’ll see the opposite: people implicitly assume that the local thing is the world’s best, and don’t even bother to say so as they assume it’s self-evidentially so. The other country I’ve lived in where this is true is France, which is possibly why they criticize each other so much.*
Of course the truth is that each of these places does some things well and some not so well.
* The French also moan a lot — it feels like the national pastime — but that’s different.