Americans Are Patriotic And Nationalist, but not more than some Europeans (figure 173). Unsurprisingly, Germans are least proud of their nation, and rather unexpectedly and cheerily, the Portuguese—not the Americans—are most proud, with the Irish tied for second place. A 2007 survey reveals that a larger proportion of Italians consider their culture superior than any other nationalities surveyed, including the Americans. Another survey finds that only the Irish feel more uniformly proud to be of their nation. Proportionately more Austrians, Irish, French, and Danes claim they feel very close to their nation than do Americans. Americans are more likely than any Europeans to think that their country is better than most others. But proportionately more Portuguese, Danes, and Spaniards feel that the world would be improved if other people were like them. And any U.S. tendency to boosterism is tempered by the finding that a larger fraction of Americans admits that certain aspects of their country shame them than do the Germans, Austrians, Spanish, French, Danes, or Finns. No country more robustly projects its own nationalist aspirations in the products it sells abroad than the supposedly postnational Swedes. Swedish manufacturers, or at least their advertising agencies, seem convinced that the sheer fact of being Swedish is a selling point. Ikea’s walls are adorned with musings on the preternaturally close relationship between Swedes and nature that allegedly sets them apart from the rest of humanity, as are packets of Wasa crispbread. Asko’s slogan, “Made In Sweden,” is festooned prominently on its products. Though it does not necessarily inspire confidence that the company’s dishwashers are better than the competition, it certainly makes clear Asko’s national origins. Absolut Vodka’s tag—in uncharacteristically unidiomatic English—“Country of Sweden,” does much the same. Saab hawks its cars as “Born from Jets,” an unsubtle allusion to the company’s standing as a pillar of the Swedish military-industrial complex.
Summarizing Analysis of Operation of American Defense Contractor Raytheon Technologies
