There's Nothing Exceptional About Any Country
Almost every nation at some point believes it’s special and on a mission. They’re all wrong, and the sooner we get over this nonsense, the better.
Churchillian Exceptionalism in a box.
Photographer: Hollie Adams/Getty Images EuropePundits have recently proclaimed “the end” — or exposed “the myth” — of British exceptionalism. It’s hard for Brits to keep seeing themselves as uniquely heroic while bungling their response to a pandemic, fumbling through Brexit and literally boxing up statues of national idols to save them from being defaced.
Other observers have similarly announced the end of Swedish exceptionalism, because of an unorthodox epidemiological approach to Covid-19 that basically failed. But Sweden’s belief in its own special status apparently became untenable even earlier, and for many other reasons.