| 1 | -> ''"When we Greeks were building Parthenons, you barbarians were still eating acorns."'' [[note]]Original quote in Greek: [[https://www.quora.com/If-your-country-had-a-slogan-what-it-would-be/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5 Όταν εμείς οι Έλληνες χτίζαμε Παρθενώνες, εσείς οι βάρβαροι τρώγατε βελανίδια.]] [[/note]] |
| 2 | -->-- '''[[https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Νίκος_Αθανασόπουλος Nikos Athanasopoulos]]''', Greek politician, hitting back at an EU investigation of corruption in the Greek government under Belgian anti-corruption official [[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/crooks-milk-ec-for-all-it-is-worth-1457668.html Emile Mennens]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | When a character holds up one culture (often, but not necessarily their own) as a shining example of development and progression, by uttering something along the lines of "my people/they were putting the finishing touches on quantum chromodynamics while yours were still figuring out how to wipe their bottoms without getting dirty hands." |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Often as historically justified as it is relevant. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | Expect the alien who has the opinion that HumansAreTheRealMonsters (or humans who believe that HumanityIsSuperior) to trot out a similar argument. Compare CantArgueWithElves -- that's when humans or other peoples for some reason don't mind insults at all. ScrewYouElves happens when they ''do'' mind. If this happens between nations, it's UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism. These four references to other tropes might be actually broader examples of this trope... what other culture do humans (as in ''you'', reader) know but their own human culture? How very meta. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Compare WhileYouWereInDiapers. NoTrueScotsman fallacies may often occur. When people do this to other cultures, it's a ForeignCultureFetish. Contrast CulturalCringe and CulturalPersonalityMakeover. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ---- |
| 13 | !Examples: |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 16 | |
| 17 | !!Fictional cultures |
| 18 | |
| 19 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 20 | * In ''Anime/AldnoahZero'', the Emperor and nobles of the Vers Empire on Mars act as if they represent some kind of ancient noble bloodline and regard the Terrans of Earth with disdain. It should be noted, however, that Vers is just an Earth colony that decided to revolt upon finding some ancient technology, the eponymous Aldnoah, in TheEighties. While the Aldnoah is a rather decisive advantage, it's literally the only thing Vers has over Earth, as Mars has no natural resources. |
| 21 | * ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'': While she isn't a jerk about it, Klan Klan is extremely proud of her Zentraedi heritage and frequently makes comments about Zentraedi weapons being superior to human-designed ones. Interestingly, though, in one episode that deals with a group of Zentraedi rebels who wish to return to "the old ways" before they met humanity, Klan calls them "a disgrace to all Zentraedi". |
| 22 | [[/folder]] |
| 23 | |
| 24 | [[folder:Audio Drama]] |
| 25 | * Shadovar of the Technomancers manages to give one to ''the Time Lords'' in the ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' story "Legion of the Lost", telling Co-Ordinator Jarad "The ways of my people are as incomprehensible to you as your technology would be to monocellular organisms." |
| 26 | [[/folder]] |
| 27 | |
| 28 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 29 | * The ''ComicBook/SilverSurfer'' often compares modern-day Earth to ancient Zenn-La. WHAT IF #41 is a good example. |
| 30 | * According to the ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' comics, Earth is considered a primitive backwater planet by most other species in the DC universe. Indeed, Abin Sur's last words as he handed his ring over to Hal Jordan were, "Heh. An Earthman. Never thought I'd live to..." |
| 31 | * You probably could swing a stick and find a group that did this in ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics''. It's one of the main reasons Robotnik/Eggman had total control. |
| 32 | * [[ComicBook/TheInhumans The Inhumans]] often look down on humanity for being primitive because their society had advanced technology (imported from the same aliens that uplifted them) while the rest of humanity were hunter-gatherers. Also they're a society of superhumans. In the Ultimate continuity, this was so bad that they move to Moon because the Fantastic Four visited their settlement and breathed the same air as them. |
| 33 | * Wakanda has been guilty of this especially in the storyline ''Who is the ComicBook/BlackPanther?'' where in they refuse to give outside countries, especially the US anything even the cure for cancer on the grounds of they’ll somehow weaponize it. |
| 34 | * ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': King J'son of Spartax (or Spartoi) spends a lot of his time going on about how humans are dumb and stupid and ugly and etc. His son is half-human. Actually gets to a point in ''ComicBook/{{Infinity}}'' when J-Son starts getting angry about humans being brought into a war planning session, telling them they'll only be useful if they need cannon fodder. The Supreme Intelligence pipes up by comparing Earth's success rate against the Kree Empire to that of Spartax. Humanity's success rate is ''much'' higher - essentially as close as the Supreme Intelligence gets to "dude, just shut up." |
| 35 | * ''ComicBook/{{Democracy}}'': The moment Leander sets his feet at Delphi, Antenor immediately takes him on a tour and shows him the "Room with the Treasures", the warehouse where they stock the other city-states' sacrifices and gifts. He says that they have it, so their riches will discourage the other ones. |
| 36 | [[/folder]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 39 | * In ''Fanfic/MythosEffect'', the turians exemplify this, especially as they look down on the NEF's use of {{Magitek}}, which they consider Sufficiently Advanced tech, probably prothean, which the idiot monkeys found and rationalized as magic. Sparatus in particular, when meeting with the NEF military, refuses to use their actual titles, and insists on calling everyone "human". |
| 40 | * ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'': A number of ponies act as if their society is better than any from non-ponies, and as shown in Slice n' Dice's story, some go out of their way to deliberately act against the wolves' culture and disrespect it. |
| 41 | * ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'': It's made clear by Darth's comments on the subject in Season 2 Episode 11 that even many of the Irkens who don't believe in outright FantasticRacism still view themselves as naturally superior to other species, and that this therefore justifies their conquest of the universe. |
| 42 | [[/folder]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 45 | * The Kingdom of Clouds in ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheKingdomOfClouds'' prides themselves in having achieved a prosperous civilization without harming the planet while implicitly having a huge technological advantage (e.g., by using flying vehicles to rescue animals before they got extinct for centuries). At the time the story takes place (~1992), human pollution is making their kingdom inhabitable, and they have no trouble getting in the high horse and blaming humanity for their thoughtlessness and selfishness. Meanwhile, at no point in the film they even consider lending some of their technology to humanity nor feel guilty for keeping all their advanced technology for themselves while humanity struggled through miserable periods in human story such as the dark and middle ages. Their plan was to flood the world while evacuating everyone beforehand and then putting all those 7 billion people back to Earth without their technology as a hard reset to civilization, ignoring that billions of people would die before and ''if'' things can be under control. Doraemon and his friends barely stop them, and they promise at the end of the film to do better and work harder at protecting nature while the cloud people leave for a [[PlantAliens Plant Alien]] planet. |
| 46 | [[/folder]] |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 49 | * ''Film/Transformers2007'': Ironhide asks "Why are we fighting to save the humans, they're a primitive and violent race". This coming from the race of giant robots with weapons built into their bodies who have been engaged in a millennia-long war. Optimus Prime, however, does point out, [[NotSoDifferentRemark "Were we so different?"]] |
| 50 | * Subverted in ''Film/MyFavoriteMartian'' when Martin starts complaining about his spaceship's "electron accelerator" getting fried and then tells Tim "I'd tell you what it is, but you think E = mc[[superscript:2]]". [[spoiler:It then turns out that an "electron accelerator" is just flowery {{Technobabble}} for an alternator taken from Tim's sedan.]] |
| 51 | * Subverted in ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005''. With the life of the last woman in the galaxy hanging in the balance and a monstrous bureaucracy keeping the heroes from rescuing her, Arthur Dent takes a deep breath and announces, "I'm British, I know how to queue." And then he quickly gives up after seeing that waiting in line is going to take too long. |
| 52 | * Naturally, the Psychlos in ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'' won't shut up about how much better they are than "man-animals" and mock them at every possible opportunity. Of course, when the "man animals" decide to fight back it's a truly epic fail for the Psychlos. |
| 53 | -->'''Terl:''' While you were still learning how to [[LargeHam spell your name...]] ''I'' was being trained... to ''conquer galaxies!'' |
| 54 | [[/folder]] |
| 55 | |
| 56 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 57 | * ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': Quite a few times, the various alien races and humans that interact end up doing this to each other. |
| 58 | ** Andalites, being a race of {{Straw Vulcan}}s, do this frequently. Ax makes no secret of his intellectual superiority over humans, Elfangor and Arbron are befuddled by how humans are even capable of walking, and any given Andalite military commander that the Animorphs encounter is guaranteed to be arrogant and dismissive of non-Andalites. The Animorphs vary between finding this amusing (such as when Ax fails to hide that he's a BookDumb slacker by Andalite standards), or frustrating. |
| 59 | ** #10 did this with the Pemalites vs. the Andalites, where Erik tells the Animorphs that Pemalites had FTL travel long before Andalites discovered fire, annoying Ax. Funnily enough, "The Ellimist Chronicles" later revealed that the Pemalites didn't even exist when the Andalites were living in tribal societies. |
| 60 | ** #26 did this with the Howlers, but it was pointed out that a head start in years didn't necessarily make them smarter. |
| 61 | * The fairies regularly boast of their superiority over the "mudmen" (i.e. humans). ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' series. Their technology is more advanced, their society is less harmful to the environment, their nature is less violent, etc. Artemis himself didn't bother to humor them as he outsmarted them in the first book, and some of their number can be as ruthless as any human. |
| 62 | * ''Literature/TheChangeRoom'': Shar, who's half-Persian, is [[BerserkButton very offended]] to have them and Arabs confused. She's convinced Persians are an advanced, cultured people while Arabs are uncivilized barbarians compared to them. |
| 63 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 64 | ** TheNarrator does it in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'', although his definition of cultural superiority makes it clear it's a parody: Klatch "had 15 words for assassination before the rest of the world had caught on to the idea of hitting each other with rocks". |
| 65 | ** An understated example in ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'': |
| 66 | --->'''Lord Rust''': That's a Make-Things-Bigger Device isn't it? My word, you're up to date; they were only invented last year!\ |
| 67 | '''Klatchian general''': I didn't buy this. I inherited it from my grandfather. |
| 68 | ** In ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'', in the country of Djelibeybi (heavily based on Ancient Egypt), the High Priest reminds the king that "your family was on its third dynasty before our neighbors had worked out, sire, how babies are made." |
| 69 | ** Ankh-Morpork also has a tendency to cultural posturing, but usually of a pointedly understated kind. As one upper-class soldier puts it in ''[[Literature/NightWatchDiscworld Night Watch]]'', other countries have to keep telling everyone they're the best; Morporkians just ''know''. |
| 70 | * In the ''Literature/DreambloodDuology'', Kisuati are quick to remind the Gujaareen that Gujaareh is a daughter-state of Kisua that's become corrupted in the eyes of the Kisuati. |
| 71 | * The British wizards from ''Literature/HarryPotter'' always act as though they're far better than Muggles. At best they're slightly more advanced. At their very worst they are culturally stagnant, have a KangarooCourt for a justice system, a government as corrupt as any struggling Third World nation, and their education facilities have [[Main/NoOSHACompliance downright pathetic safety standards]] which seems to be par for the course, and the fact they are hiding their magical backwards world from Muggle society makes their purported superiority over the Muggles in every way a joke. Except for medicine, since broken bones can be healed with a wave of a wand, entire ''missing'' bones can be grown overnight and they definitely have a better track record (it still takes hard work to become a Healer, though, in the same way for Muggles to become doctors.) |
| 72 | * ''Literature/ImpracticalMagic'': Yam is the victim of FantasticRacism and as such overcompensates by being too proud of the Len's concept of a 'Virtue'. He frequently dismisses humans as being unaware bigots while referring to them as uncultured savages. |
| 73 | * The [[FantasyCounterpartCulture D'Angelines]] from ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'' love to wax poetic about how advanced, beautiful, and [[EternalSexualFreedom sexually liberated]] they are because everyone else seems to be stuck in the Dark Ages while the D'Angelines are in the Renaissance. |
| 74 | * Creator/SMStirling's ''Literature/TheLordsOfCreation'': The [[TransplantedHumans Martians]] in ''In the Courts of the Crimson Kings'' are fond of pointing out how advanced they were while Earth humans were hunter-gatherers. |
| 75 | * In the ''Literature/PerryRhodan'' universe, this is very much the Arkonides' [[PlanetOfHats 'Hat']] -- traditionally, the actual inhabitants of Arkon look down on their neighbors, all of them look down on other species, and so on. Regarding Earth, the traditionalists' position is that they had starflight while Terrans were still living in caves and digging up grubs and 'Larsaf III' is just a lost colony anyway (Atlantis ''was'' in fact one of their settlements thousands of years ago, although the natives were already in place). They don't let the historical fact that [[spoiler:Arkon itself turns out to be merely a colony ''of'' a colony dating back to Earth's first interstellar empire that was devastated by war some 50,000 years ago]] get in their way in the slightest, of course. |
| 76 | * The Calvarians of ''Literature/TheReynardCycle'' will do this at the drop of a hat. [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy If they bother to talk to you at all.]] In spite of the fact that Calvaria is clearly TheEmpire, and is policed by an organization that [[spoiler: murdered his infant son]], the exiled Isengrim ''still'' can't help but point out the many ways that Calvarians are superior to the rest of the world. When asked if he misses the place, he says "no" in the Southern tongue, pauses, and then says "yes" in the Northern tongue. |
| 77 | * The wildlings in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' hold themselves superior to the "kneelers" of the South. Whereas the southern peoples of Westeros are beholden to their liege lords and have to follow silly things like "laws", the "free folk" as the wildlings call themselves have a MightMakesRight philosophy. That said, despite how cocky the wildlings are the southern peoples are ''far'' better than they are in every other respect (the wildlings' "free" way of life makes all of their factions prone to infighting to the point that the Night's Watch was confident that killing Mance Rayder would cause his massive army to disintegrate, not to mention the south has better armor, horses, weapons, and pretty much everything else), despite the wildlings thinking that once they get past the Wall they'll be able to run roughshod over everyone. |
| 78 | ** In the south, a mixture of this and House Posturing prevails. Northerners think Southerners are pampered and weak, Southerners think Northerners are crude and savage, the ironborn look down on everyone who doesn't pillage and burn for a living (bonus demerits for being literate, and especially maesters, who are well-read ''for a living''), and ''everyone'' thinks Dorne is a bit weird [[DeliberateValuesDissonance because of that whole "women being equal" thing]]. That's just the posturing based on geography; the pissing matches between individual Houses can be ''brutal'', even when they don't extend to actually drawing swords. |
| 79 | * In one of the ''Literature/StarTrekMillennium'' novels, a Bajoran mentions how her people were architects and artists when "Cardassians were still swimming through swamps catching fish in their mouths". |
| 80 | * Prince Jimuro of the ''Literature/SteelCrowSaga'' grew up as a PoliticalHostage of an enemy nation his own was trying to conquer, so he repeatedly touts the superiority of Tomodanese culture to all others, even claiming that the Tomodanese invasion was them bringing order and civilization to the countries they attacked. Once he actually comes back to his home, his idealized version of it quickly falls apart. |
| 81 | * One short story from the ''Literature/TortallUniverse'' is about [[Literature/TrickstersDuet Nawat]] and Aly's experience as new parents. Nawat insists on raising the babies (who did come out as babies and not chicks) the crow way; he rants about how stupid diapers are and how much better it is that chicks defecate outside the nest. Accordingly, he sneaks the triplets to the window whenever he gets a chance, which causes a diplomatic incident when the mess hits an ambassador's secretary. After yelling at him for holding babies out of the ''two-story window'', it takes Aly about five minutes to come up with a compromise. |
| 82 | * Most cats in ''Literature/WarriorCats'' believe that their own Clan can do no wrong and that the other Clans are all weaklings or heartless bastards. This often works in [=ThunderClan's=] favor, since the majority of the series is from their [=POV=], but the series does occasionally show that the other Clans are similar. For example, the same is done with [=RiverClan=] when they become the protagonists in ''Crookedstar's Promise''. |
| 83 | * The [[GenerationShips Exodan]] humans of the ''Literature/{{Wayfarers}}'' series spent decades trying to get citizenship in TheFederation, and are quite aware of the low opinion many aliens (and even Solan humans) have of them. As such, they're very defensive of their culture, which often leads to touting its superiority and xenophobia. When Sawyer immigrates to the fleet, everyone around him treats him with disdain and any ignorance of their culture is taken as a sign of inferior morality. There's also repeated claims of how alien and Martian influences are "corrupting" the fleet. [[spoiler:When Sawyer's ignorance gets him killed, Eyas decides to set up a formal immigration office to challenge these attitudes.]] |
| 84 | * The [[LizardFolk Race]] in Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' series feel themselves superior to any [[HumansByAnyOtherName Tosevite]] culture. It gets even better in the follow-up ''Colonization'' series when the Colonization Fleet arrives to find that the Conquest Fleet has failed to conquer the entire planet. Their general attitude is that an inferior race like the Tosevites has no business being at least as advanced (or more advanced in some areas) than the Race. After all, Tosevites have been fighting with swords on horseback a mere 800 years (400 Tosevite years) ago, while the Race has deliberately kept their culture and technology unchanged for 50,000 years, as well as an unbroken line of {{God Emperor}}s. And how dare they mate whenever they please?! A proper culture only mates once a year in a massive worldwide orgy. |
| 85 | [[/folder]] |
| 86 | |
| 87 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 88 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 89 | ** Whenever the Time Lords appear (in the classic series, at least), they generally have this kind of attitude to non-Time Lords; in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]", a Time Lord dismisses 160th-century Earth technology as the kind of thing his people had mastered "when the Universe was less than half its present size". It's gradually but persistently undercut, however, by increasing revelations that they're stagnant and over-sheltered as a civilization, incompetent at anything that falls outside their protected little bubble, corrupt and hypocritical, and altogether not nearly as high-and-mighty as they'd like others to believe. Later, they prove to be exponentially more dangerous than anyone had previously realized, and are as feared as the Daleks -- if not more so. However, if anything, this undercuts the cultural superiority aspect even more, as the Time Lords are depicted as being led by an arrogant elite that will literally burn the entire universe down to save themselves. |
| 90 | ** The Doctor himself occasionally displays this kind of attitude but is equally quick to [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch point out the faults of his own kind]] and sing the praises of other cultures that impress him ([[IntriguedByHumanity especially humanity]])... even if some of the things he praises them for are rather trivial (jelly babies and edible ball bearings), but he's [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} a bit of a loon]]. However, in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild the pilot episode]] (in which the Doctor is [[CharacterizationMarchesOn considerably ruder and snarkier]]), he claims to Ian that [[WhileYouWereInDiapers before human beings turned the first wheel]], the people of his world had reduced free movements through the farthest reaches of space 'to a game for children'. |
| 91 | * As was the case in [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the books]], ''Series/GameOfThrones'' is thick with people posturing cultures. It ''really'' stands out in the History and Lore of Westeros animation extras that accompany the boxed disc sets of each season--these segments are narrated by one (or several) characters. Many of them, when speaking of their homeland (by birth or by ancestry), are quick to brag about its martial prowess, its great achievements, or its social progressiveness--often coupled with [[TakeThat a snarky putdown]] of other cultures found in the series. |
| 92 | ** As noted in the Literature section above, the Wildlings love posturing--both Ygritte and Tormund Giantsbane do this in their respective segments. |
| 93 | ** Oberyn Martell, in a Season 4 History and Lore segment on his house, says of Dorne's long tradition of equal respect and fealty to nobility of both sexes: "For unlike the rest of Westeros, ''our'' loyalty ''isn't'' commanded by a cock." |
| 94 | * In one episode of ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'', she criticizes a spaceship design, and when Tony asks her what she knows about it says, "My people were flying carpets when yours were hollowing out log canoes." |
| 95 | * ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Some Men of Numenor hold themselves superior to the low men of the Southlands and think of themselves of being a "better breeding" for a She-Elf than a southlander, as can be seen from the exchange between them and Halbrand. |
| 96 | * ''Series/StargateSG1'': |
| 97 | ** The Nox are a non-human race of pacifists who live a simple life because they are so technologically advanced that they can afford to be neutral pacifists who don't need to fight the Goa'uld; the Goa'uld are simply no threat to them and they can also cloak entire cities from detection and heal the recently dead. They call the humans of Earth 'children' and constantly refer to Earth humans doing things they disapprove of as 'children often do not do as they are told'. The condescending nature of this position does grate on the humans, but some of them also accept it as inevitable given the vast inequality in technological knowledge between the two species -- mainly because the Nox have given them no choice but to accept it. |
| 98 | ** The Tollans refused to co-operate with the SGC because they viewed them as so primitive that the Tollans considered it a miracle they'd ever managed to get the Stargate working. Daniel calls them out on their rudeness by comparing their condescension with that of the Nox, commenting that the Nox at least had the manners to refer to the humans of Earth as 'children' instead of 'primitives'. He ends up introducing the Tollans and the Nox to each other in order to protect the Tollans from Earth politics. While it sets up a lasting alliance between Earth and Tollana, it inevitably creates such a one-sided, condescending relationship that Earth has to practically bully Tollana into defending itself when the Goa'uld threaten the existence of Tollana. [[spoiler:By that point, it's too late, and Tollana is believed to have been completely wiped out by Anubis's subordinates.]] |
| 99 | ** Samantha's father (during his stint of being possessed by a Tok'ra) told her that Earth humanity was an inexperienced race. It wasn't meant to be derisive, but a simple statement of fact, as Earth had barely begun fighting the Goa'uld a couple of years ago, while the Tok'ra had been doing so for centuries (with a conspicuous lack of progress). |
| 100 | ** Subverted by the Asgard who will openly admit that they're more advanced (that's rather self-evident), but they aren't arrogant or condescending about it. They respect humanity for the achievements they've made and see a potential for greatness in humans. They are also able to admit when they need humanity's help; Thor half-jokingly refers to them needing a human's "dumb ideas" to reach conclusions and solutions that the Asgard cannot on their own. |
| 101 | ** The Goa'uld have also lapsed into this at times, whenever they feel the need to brag, such as Zipacna at the Tollan trial, who points out that Goa'uld have had advanced tech for thousands of years while humanity has barely landed on their moon. Daniel tries to take the wind out of his sails by pointing out that the Goa'uld ''stole'' that technology from the Ancients rather than innovate it themselves. Zipacna doesn't see why that should matter: the point is they got the tech, and humanity did not. |
| 102 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 103 | ** In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', Spock and [=McCoy=] love to posture their respective Vulcan and human cultures to each other. |
| 104 | ** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': |
| 105 | *** The Bajorans had a beautiful and advanced civilization and culture -- not warp-drive advanced, but still, advanced -- back when human beings were still learning to walk upright. Of course, that was before the Cardassians took over. They were also apparently [[MedievalStasis culturally stagnant]] for millennia. |
| 106 | *** [[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineGulDukat Dukat]] once says of the occupation that it was obvious the Cardassians were the superior people in every way -- societally, technologically and culturally. All that conflict was [[InsaneTrollLogic clearly their fault for wanting to be equal]]. |
| 107 | *** Garak talks a lot about how great Cardassian culture was, mostly to Bashir. Of note, Cardassia ''exiled'' Garak, [[MultipleChoicePast possibly]] because he refused to torture children to satisfy the pointless whims of a bureaucracy. |
| 108 | *** Apparently, the Romulans like to do this -- according to O'Brien in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E22Explorers Explorers]]", there is "not a single piece of technology that they don't claim [[InTheOriginalKlingon they had before anyone else did]]." |
| 109 | *** The Founders, ye gods ''the Founders'' take this, combine it with FantasticRacism and ramp it up, although the only people who actually seem to buy it are the ones who are genetically programmed to do so. In fact, even some of the things that they posture ''about'' are {{Informed Attribute}}s at best, their much-vaunted curiosity really doesn't ring true; the only thing they seem to bother to learn about other races is how to infiltrate them. |
| 110 | ** In ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'', a Klingon ambassador claims that Shakespeare's work sounds better "InTheOriginalKlingon". |
| 111 | * ''Series/WonderWoman1975'': Queen Hippolyte reigns at Paradise Island, a LadyLand HiddenElfVillage of immortals, and remembers that wmen were slaves for the Romans and the Greeks. After some thousands of years being an immortal, she is not fond of any culture in the outside world: |
| 112 | -->'''Queen Hippolyte:''' ...We are stronger, wiser, and more advanced than all those people in their jungles out there. Our civilization is perfection! |
| 113 | [[/folder]] |
| 114 | |
| 115 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 116 | * Extremely ''violent'' posturing is the rule of the day in interspecies relations in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', where one side, or usually both, tout the superiority of their own culture and history as they blast their foes to bits. |
| 117 | ** The Eldar are particularly guilty of this. It's made all the more stupid on their part because humanity didn't ''destroy their own civilization via a galaxy-wide orgy that birthed a god that feeds on souls.'' They also refuse to believe that they could be in the wrong at any point or that someone else might have a good plan for stopping something (they once tried to destroy an entire planet in an effort to safeguard a long-buried craft world from the Tyranids and apparently refused to believe that the Blood Ravens could fight it off). This is best illustrated (along with an epic ShutUpHannibal) in this quote: |
| 118 | -->'''Farseer Mirehn Bielann''': The stars themselves once lived and died at our command, yet you still dare to oppose our will. |
| 119 | -->'''Imperial officer''': ''[[ShutUpHannibal Once.]]'' |
| 120 | ** And ironically averted by the Necrons, who predate everyone else- and never speak, let alone posture. They just cut right to the killing. |
| 121 | *** There are Necron lords who speak but they mainly just trick others to get what they want or tell them that [[OmnicidalManiac everyone would be better off dead]] without posturing. There's a [[CrapsackWorld good amount of evidence]] to say they're not ''completely'' wrong about that. |
| 122 | *** Apparently they got into this with the Old Ones (whose tech was less advanced but supplemented by extremely powerful psychic powers) while they were still the Necrontyr. The resulting war almost sterilized the galaxy. |
| 123 | ** Orks will happily look down on orks from different clans for not being like their own and go to war with them for that same reason: the Goffs are the toughest/are brutal killjoys, the Blood Axes are the most effective/are cowards who use tactics and subterfuge, the Speed Freeks are the fastest/are insane, etc. |
| 124 | ** InterserviceRivalry still very much being a thing in the far future, this is an almost inevitable consequence of different branches of the Imperium's armed forces working together, be it two Space Marine Chapters or Imperial Guard regiments. |
| 125 | *** Literature/CiaphasCain's early career involved making a mixed-gender regiment out of the remnants of an all-male planetary assault and an all-female garrison regiment where the commanding officer had three days' seniority over her male counterpart, starting by defusing a bar brawl [[MarsAndVenusGenderContrast where a male soldier declared he sure as hell wasn't "eating from some mincing tart's front parlor tea service".]] |
| 126 | *** When Space Wolves and Dark Angels meet, they usually have a stylised honor duel in memory of their Primarchs not liking each other, followed by TeethClenchedTeamwork. |
| 127 | ** This also extends into real life: arguments over which army/race is superior based on canon are EXTREMELY common. It's not uncommon, for example, to see a Blood Angels player berating a Dark Angels one, to the effect of "While we stood against Horus on Terra, you guys were busy blowing up your own planet!" |
| 128 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'': Played for comedy in the "Player's Guide to Eberron" supplement, which features an excerpt from the play "Street Dancers", by Hiorus Brightmane, that appears to be about a half-elf and an urban elf being smug about how great it is to be a half-elf or urban elf and how much better it is than being human or a traditionalist elf. They seem self-aware about it, at least. |
| 129 | -->'''Cullaris:''' Tell me, what virtue do we not possess?\ |
| 130 | '''Mahlla:''' Humility?\ |
| 131 | '''Cullaris:''' Yes, perhaps. |
| 132 | * ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming'': Most of the Kiths do this, constantly bickering about who was the First Dream. |
| 133 | ** With a notable inversion in the case of the Nockers. They are "modern and proud", rather smugly noting that while the Dreams of noble leaders, revelling animals, or even violent death from something chasing you in the dark are either dead or getting steadily weaker, dreams of Invention and Frustration are getting steadily stronger. Especially since the Industrial Age. |
| 134 | * Quite common in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'', especially from the Europans. |
| 135 | [[/folder]] |
| 136 | |
| 137 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 138 | * ''VideoGame/BaldursGate3'': [[NobleDemon Lae'zel]] firmly believes that [[SpaceElves githyanki]] are simply ''better'' at doing ''everything'' than all other races, from warfare to statecraft to child-rearing. It gets particularly silly in one moment where [[PlayerCharacter Tav]] can insult githyanki noses as "upturned bat snouts", prompting this [[TheComicallySerious completely earnest]] line: |
| 139 | -->'''Lae'zel''': That large, fleshy nose of yours looks like a mistake. [...] 'Better' is an opinion, but mine is certainly more economical. Disciplined. Dignified. |
| 140 | * ''VideoGame/StarControl II'': "Just over twenty thousand years ago -- when your ancestors were learning to chart the course of the moon and stars on animal horns -- the Sentient Milieu spanned five hundred light-years and included the membership of a hundred worlds." [[TheGreys The Arilou]] like to remind you of their antiquity too, but they do it in a friendlier way. |
| 141 | * The Morrigi from ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' are very fond of this. When your species is so old that interstellar traders and explorers from your civilization created the myths of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragons]] in other species in the same galaxy during their stone ages, you may be justified doing it. |
| 142 | ** Also myths of [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels]] |
| 143 | * Javik, in ''Franchise/MassEffect'', [[LastOfHisKind the last Prothean]] would like to remind you that during his time, the asari hadn't invented writing, and the salarians were still eating flies. Repeatedly. At every conceivable opportunity. Sometimes he would just spout patronizing things about other cultures entirely at random. |
| 144 | --> '''Javik''': Did you know that the salarians used to lick their eyes? |
| 145 | ** He even manages to do this when he's ''praising'' you. When you talk with him on the Citadel, he's approached by several aliens who overhear you mention that he's Prothean (among these is a very religious hanar, who worship the Protheans). After he gives them a pep talk, Shepard can reply to the audience asking what he's like by saying he's a good ally to have around. Javik's response: |
| 146 | --->'''Javik:''' The Commander is a capable warrior as well. For a human. Who used to live in caves. |
| 147 | ** Then sarcastically parodied in the Citadel DLC: |
| 148 | --->'''Javik:''' Commander, in my cycle, when we fled combat by falling through tanks filled with aquatic animals, we usually... oh, right, we never did! You are a trailblazer! |
| 149 | ** Shepard can even get in on this. Every time the Reapers try to lord their superiority over them, stating that Shepard's attempts to delay the inevitable are foolish since ResistanceIsFutile; Shepard counters that the Reapers clearly seem to be unaware that most humans won't even submit to their ''own'' people in authority, let alone will simply lay down and let themselves be subjugated without putting up a fight; |
| 150 | --->'''Shepard:''' We will ''fight!'' We will ''sacrifice!'' And we ''find a way!'' That is what humans ''do!'' |
| 151 | ** The turians, particularly in the first game have shades of this towards Humanity, due to residual animosity left over from the First Contact War. The scary thing is that their assessment that both sides could wipe out the other is ''right''. Mordin states in the second game that the Salarian Government did hypothetical projections of what would happen if the turians and the humans ever ended up fighting a prolonged war and the best scenario ended with both races likely wiping themselves out, but not before both sides had practically ''destroyed'' a quarter of the '''Galaxy''' first! |
| 152 | ** All the Council races do this, in a constant cycle of posturing at each other. The asari remind everyone that they're so diplomatic and wise, the salarians want you to know that they're the smartest and the cleverest, the turians have to point out that they can wipe the floor with everyone else in a straight-up fight, and then the Humans butt in to say they're almost as good diplomats as the asari, almost as smart as the salarians, nearly as tough as the turians, and they've only been doing this for 50 years, so ''there''. |
| 153 | ** And ''then'' there are the krogan. Krogan bluster mostly comes in two forms: "we are bigger and tougher than you and that is why we are better" and, as a subset of the first, "none of you would survive [[DeathWorld Tuchanka]] for more than ten seconds". Thankfully, Wrex has grown very disillusioned with his people over the past thousand years or so, and Grunt was mostly "raised" on glorious legends and videos of old battles with no actual emotional connection and responds to his first sight of Tuchanka with a wordier version of "what a shithole", so you're mostly spared this from your teammates. |
| 154 | ** Of course, the whole point is a thoroughly DiscussedTrope by some characters who are painfully aware of the CulturalPosturing of their own race - namely, Matriarch Aethyta for the asari, and either Wrex or Eve for the krogan. Garrus also seems highly conscious of turian flaws, especially in the second and third games after he's become more disillusioned and cynical. He even apologizes to Tali at one point for the little bit of posturing he did toward her in the first game. Kaidan has a moment of this toward humanity, arguing that people like [[AssInAmbassador Udina]] are [[NotHelpingYourCase not helping their people's case]]. For the salarians, Padok Wicks is very critical of his race's tendency to meddle with more primitive species, and all the trouble that's caused for the galaxy. |
| 155 | ** The Reapers almost seem to enjoy this. They constantly remind Shepard how superior they are to everything else in the galaxy, how all life is just their experiment and their plaything, how everything else in the Milky Way is completely at their mercy and can be terminated whenever they wish it. |
| 156 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' |
| 157 | ** The [[OurElvesAreDifferent Altmer (High Elves)]] take the cake as the haughtiest culture in Tamriel. They are a tall, golden-skinned race of Mer with [[MageSpecies exceptional natural aptitude for magic]] and are responsible for much of Tamriel's art, science, philosophy, language, and religion, fitting squarely within the idea of CrystalSpiresAndTogas as a race. They are the direct descendants of the Aldmer ({{Precursors}} to all modern races of Mer) and consider the other races of Mer as a result of "degeneration" over the ages. (And don't even bother trying to bring up the races of Men...) Their religious beliefs state that they are the true descendants of the Aedra ("Our Ancestors" in old [[ConLang Aldmeris]]), the deities who aided in the creation of the mortal world, known as Mundus. They believe the creation of Mundus was a cruel trick on the part of the [[GodIsDead dead creator god]], Lorkhan, which robbed their divine ancestors of their pre-creation divinity, forcing them to experience mortal suffering, loss, and death. And [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch while there are exceptions]], most Altmer are proud to bring up any of the aforementioned facts whenever they get the chance. Their culture did suffer a BreakTheHaughty moment in the late 2nd Era, when [[TheEmperor Tiber Septim]] used the [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Dwemer]]-constructed [[HumongousMecha Numidium]] to deal the Altmer a CurbStompBattle defeat in which their capital city was sacked in less than an hour, forcing them to join an Empire of Men by conquest for the first time in their history. When the Septim Dynasty ended at the start of the 4th Era, the Altmer rose once again under the leadership of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName extremist Thalmor]], reforming the [[AntiHumanAlliance Aldmeri Dominion]] of old. |
| 158 | ** The Dunmer (Dark Elves) were not far behind their Altmer cousins in terms of haughtiness at their cultural height. They were an extremely xenophobic race who hated outlanders within their homeland of Morrowind, but had no issue with raiding Black Marsh or Elsweyr to take [[LizardFolk Argonian]] and [[CatFolk Khajiiti]] slaves. The Tribunal Temple, which by the 3rd Era had become a shining example of a CorruptChurch full of [[KnightTemplar Knights Templar]] who followed their {{Physical God}}s (the Tribunal) to a fault. Hypocrisy was rampant in their culture where, for instance, they would sic their ChurchPolice on anyone accused of practicing necromancy with orders to kill on sight, while the Dunmer themselves would summon the bodies and spirits of their ancestors for protection, considering it a "holy act" when they do it. However, the events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', the [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion Crisis]], the [[ColonyDrop Red]] [[ChekhovsVolcano Year]], and finally the [[TheDogBitesBack Argonian Invasion]] were a major BreakTheHaughty series of events for the Dunmer. Their homeland was choked with volcanic ash and the still-habitable parts were under the control of their long-time SlaveRace, forcing the Dunmer people to flee to the frozen, barren island of Solstheim and to Skyrim, where they are treated as second-class citizens (at best) by the native, [[FantasticRacism Elf-hating]] [[HornyVikings Nords]]. |
| 159 | ** The Imperials of Cyrodiil have displayed this whenever they have been leading their various empires that have spanned most or all of Tamriel. As they conquer new lands, they have traditionally enforced their rather liberal Imperial values, including [[ProudMerchantRace a heavy focus on mercantilism and trade]] as well as significant religious tolerance, believing them to be superior to the "barbaric" cultures they are replacing and leading to plenty of CultureClash. (Given that a lot of the cultures they have replaced were rife with [[FantasticRacism racism]], classism, and every other negative "-ism" you can think of, they weren't entirely un{{justified}} in this belief.) Following the fall of the Septim Dynasty's Third Empire, as seen in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', this is happening quite a bit toward the Nords. The Imperials love to point out how their [[UsefulNotes/TheGloryThatWasRome glorious cosmopolitan empire]] is superior to the barbaric, frozen wilderness of Skyrim. Note that this isn't FantasticRacism because it's the Nord culture that is looked down upon, not the actual Nord race, though you'd be forgiven for pointing out that this is a distinction without a difference. Best summed up by General Tullius, the military governor in charge of bringing Skyrim back under Imperial control; |
| 160 | ---> '''General Tullius''': If it wasn't for the Legion the provinces would descend to barbarity and anarchy, including Skyrim! ''Especially'' Skyrim! |
| 161 | ** [[BeastOfTheApocalypse Alduin]] and most of the Dragons ("Dov") often seem to invoke this towards the Dragonborn. It's shown that they view the Dragonborn as their equivalent of a HumanoidAbomination, repeatedly [[EvilGloating berating]] them for having the sheer audacity to take the name of "[[YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord Dovahkiin]]" for themselves, despite the fact they are clearly ''[[NoTrueScotsman not]]'' a true member of "[[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragonkind]]". |
| 162 | ** In the mod ''VideoGame/TamrielRebuilt'', the player can visit the Imperial Curia in Old Ebornheart, which has a mosaic window depiciting [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Vivec]] [[KneelBeforeZod prostrating himself before]] a grandstanding Tiber Septim. It is a bit of a... ''biased'' take on signing of the Treaty of the Armistice, which in reality was much closer to an amicable agreement between two {{Worthy Opponent}}s, resulting in the {{Voluntary Vassal}}isation of Morrowind, than the ignoble surrender to a victorious conqueror that mosaic would like to imply. |
| 163 | * The Night Elves and Blood Elves of ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' and the ''Reign of Chaos'' tend to have a high opinion of themselves and their role in the world. It's more obvious with the Blood Elves, while you need to look at the political actions of the Night Elves to see it. |
| 164 | ** To explain on the Night Elves: Their first reaction on seeing the orcs harvesting wood was not to warn them the woods were under their control; it was to launch an immediate attack. Once they learned of the Blood Elves, they sent covert teams into Quel'thalas to sabotage their magic. And when they wanted to bring up their concerns about potential Horde attacks on their villages, they did so by crashing a memorial for human soldiers. |
| 165 | *** Newer lore reveals, however, the Night Elves sought third parties that knew of the orcs (The Goblins) and informed themselves of their past, and the one who decided to launch the assault, was Cenarius. The covert teams into Quel'thalas were meant to spy on the Blood Elves for they suspected they were involved in Fel Magic (which they were). |
| 166 | ** It's worth pointing out that the Night Elves got a LOT less xenophobic in the transition from Warcraft III to World of Warcraft. This probably had a lot to do with them going from being their own faction in War3 to being part of the Alliance in [=WoW=]. Oddly, the same thing didn't happen with the Undead joining the Horde... at least, not right away. The newly added Shen'dralar Highborne elves, however, often play it straight. |
| 167 | * Sir Roderick Ponce Von Fontlebottom The MagnificentBastard from ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire''. His exact culture is unknown, but he dresses like a Spaniard and talks like a Brit (not hard, considering he's voiced by Creator/JohnCleese) and seems to represent Western 17th-century imperialism in general. Of course, he doesn't just stop at posturing, he goes on right into trying to educate all ignorant foreigners of the Jade Empire to his way of thinking. Anyone who disagrees gets blasted with his musket, while Sir Roderick declares moral victory. |
| 168 | * This is an InformedAttribute of the Kingdom of Rhodoks in ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' games; they consider themselves superior to the other nations of Calradia because they are the only nation to choose their king by ElectiveMonarchy. As one of your followers points out, Rhodoks [[NotSoDifferentRemark isn't so different]] from the other kingdoms in spite of this; it still ends up with a king, a ruling class of lords, and a downtrodden peasant class. |
| 169 | * In ''Franchise/DragonAge'', most other nations in Thedas, particularly [[FrenchJerk Orlais]], consider Ferelden to be a barely-civilized backwater, populated by people only above their barbarian origins, who [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking stink of wet dog!]] The typical Ferelden response is to become angry that their ''[[HeroesLoveDogs dogs]]'' were being [[ITakeOffenceToThatLastOne insulted]]! |
| 170 | ** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Free Marchers tend to get in on this towards the Ferelden refugees in Kirkwall, displaced by the Blight. |
| 171 | ** Jokingly invoked by a Snarky!Hawke, who decides to let a fellow Ferelden who's been caught stealing from their mine off the hook, by claiming to their Orlesian business partner that they were coerced into the theft, by someone who threatened their wife, children and killed their dog; |
| 172 | --->'''Hawke''': They even killed his dog to prove a point! His ''dog'', Hubert! You know how important they are to Fereldans! |
| 173 | ** Most of the other races in Thedas are split into factions and none of them really get along. |
| 174 | *** Many of the Dalish look down upon city elves, who they see as abandoning their race and culture and assimilating with their human oppressors (even though they are treated as third-class citizens). City elves tend to think the Dalish are too proud and stuck in the past. Then there are the few [[spoiler: ancient elves you encounter, who don't consider modern elves to be real elves at all, but tantamount to humans.]] |
| 175 | *** The dwarves of Orzammar aren't allowed to grace the surface without being exiled, to the extent of having their names and history erased from all records. Like city elves, "topsiders" are also seen as abandoning their culture, while many surface dwarves are exasperated by Orzammar's rigidly traditionalist culture that has led to the dwarves' dwindling numbers. |
| 176 | *** Meanwhile, defectors of the Qun are not even technically Qunari anymore, and are seen by the latter as savages and treated like enemies much like every other non-Qunari race. Although not actually savages, many Tal-Vashoth do end up becoming bandits or mercenaries due to never learning how to survive outside the strictly structured Qun. |
| 177 | * ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'' is actually able to ''weaponize'' cultural posturing: in the Civilization stage, Religious vehicles are able to convert an entire city by way of [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever gigantic hologram sermonizing the town into submission]], rather than bombing them into oblivion or literally buying them out completely. Once you reach the Space stage, nearly every single hostile NPC message (and about half of the neutral/friendly ones) are peppered with it. |
| 178 | * ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizations'': It's possible to win just by being sufficiently smug about your culture and building a ton of broadcasters to convince their worlds that it is better. Of course, if you try this too blatantly on someone with a stronger military than you, there will be pain. |
| 179 | * ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'': Extremely ironic example, when the Nazis lord themselves over the world due to their great leaps in unbelievably advanced science... which they stole from ''Jewish scientists'', the Da'at Yichud. The crux of this irony is that the secret to the Da'at Yichud's success was due to the implementation of their culture in the scientific method (make strange things for the sake of understanding the universe and not material gain, store material possessions away from prying eyes, give technology to fellow men and receive it in return, etc.). The Nazis have effectively belittled and slaughtered an entire culture of absurdly-brilliant geniuses. When you think about it, cultural posturing throughout the ages has effectively ''stunted'' the potential of the average citizen, which was rejected by members of the Da'at Yichud and allowed them and their members to unlock humanity's full potential in secret. |
| 180 | * ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'': One of the few things that make the generally benevolent Hoshido [[ALighterShadeOfGrey grey]] is their tendency to characterize all citizens of Nohr as wicked monsters when the truth is that it is really just [[TheEmperor Garon]], [[TheDragon his advisor]] [[{{Necromancer}} Iago]] and [[TheBrute their chief general]] [[PsychoForHire Hans]]. This has the result of making the Hoshido characters look a tad racist during the Conquest route, as they insist that the player character must have been brainwashed as they continue to plead for peace between Nohr and Hoshido. |
| 181 | * Communications between hostile empires in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' consist of either threats, species-specific insults, or this, no exceptions. [[VestigialEmpire Fallen Empires]] also like to do it a lot [[YouAreACreditToYourRace even if they're on good terms with you]], with their arguments usually based on their extremely advanced technology. Unfortunately for them, they continue to treat the younger empires like barely sentient upstarts even when the latter [[BullyingADragon have vastly more fleet power than them]], which often ends up irritating players enough to decide to teach the oldtimers a humiliating lesson or two. |
| 182 | * ''VideoGame/BugFables'': Beette constantly brags about how the [[VirtuousBees Bee Kingdom]] has the best culture of all. This disgusts Vi, a bee who left the hive after falling out with her sister and employer, to the point that she refuses to interact with Beette at all until settling her issues with the Bee Kingdom. |
| 183 | * ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': All the tribes see the other tribes, at best, as backwards, and dangerous savages at worst. The Nora refuse to leave their Sacred Land and see all outsiders as cursed by definition. The Carja consider themselves the only true civilization in the world. The Oseram have the highest technology and scoff at everyone else for being frail. The Banuk value self-reliance above all else and sneer at everyone else for living in places where you ''won't'' freeze to death in five minutes. The Carja probably get the worst of this; not only are they the primary tribe in the game, but they're in the middle of a civil war (so the Carja in Shadow see themselves as the exiled true owners of the holy city, while the Carja in Sun see the Shadow Carja as a bunch of tyrants and slavers obsessed with HumanSacrifice), and most of the in-universe texts about each tribe are written by one Carjan historian who keeps making assumptions and dismissing facts that don't fit his worldview. |
| 184 | * ''VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide'' and ''VideoGame/VermintideII'': |
| 185 | ** Kerillian the elf has no end of dialogue about how other races have inferior warriors, weapons, homes, people, medicine, gods, and even swamps. Even her compliments tend to be [[YouAreACreditToYourRace a bit backhanded]]. |
| 186 | ** Downplayed by Bardin: though he occasionally comments about the tried-and-true ways of the dwarfs, it's usually meant as friendly banter -- extremely good-natured for a dwarf, given that their word for "shoddy" literally means "human-made". |
| 187 | * ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite2'': The enemy leaders go on at length about how much more noble, sophisticated, and/or powerful their civilizations are to yours. The first Japanese leader favours a ShiningCity approach, so his bragging tends to talk up his people's architecture, culture, education, artistry, and civic spirit. |
| 188 | [[/folder]] |
| 189 | |
| 190 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 191 | * Briefly {{lampshaded}} (and [[InvertedTrope inverted]]) in ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' - Cthulhu-in-an-environment-suit Sam comments that "[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fv01224.htm I'm a natural sailor. My people were swimming the seas when you Earth types were still sitting around in stone huts scribbling calculus equations with graphite sticks]]." |
| 192 | ** Sam does lament certain things human culture failed to create that his has long mastered...such as a really good nocturnal burgling song (Sam's culture values skill in scheming and thievery, and are naturally very heavy sleepers). |
| 193 | * ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'': A major part of Thief's role in the comic is to illustrate that elves aren't nearly as awesome as they claim. He loves pointing out the supposed superiority of Elf civilization and culture, to the point where he refers to almost everything as elven, including [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2007/10/13/episode-906-fair-warning/ common sense and memory]]. In [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/04/04/episode-681-of-civilizations/ one comic]] he starts in on how ancient Elf civilization is, only to be asked by Red Mage why, with a 9000-year head start, they are only as technologically advanced as humans. |
| 194 | -->'''Thief''': It's... [[BlatantLies We like it that way.]] |
| 195 | [[/folder]] |
| 196 | |
| 197 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 198 | * ''Literature/ImpracticalMagic'': Yam is the victim of FantasticRacism and as such overcompensates by being too proud of the Len's concept of a 'Virtue'. He frequently dismisses humans as being unaware bigots while referring to them as uncultured savages. |
| 199 | * Dee in ''Literature/TalesOfMU'' gives her less-evolved friends a glowing picture of her subterranean elven culture as a "structured meritocracy" where everyone has a place and all contribute to the common good. Side stories that show what's happening while she's on the surface indicate that she has a very one-sided view of her culture. |
| 200 | [[/folder]] |
| 201 | |
| 202 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 203 | * ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': The Mooninites are quite fond of this, saying things like "Our race is hundreds of years beyond yours." and "Some would say that the Earth is our moon, but that would belittle the name of the moon... [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment which is the moon]]." This is rather bizarre, since there only appears to be three of them, who have no discernible culture to speak of (unless nonstop, unfocused {{jerkass}}ery counts as a culture). |
| 204 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': This essentially prompted Fire Lord Sozin to initiate the Hundred Year War in the first place, as a way of “sharing” his nation’s booming prosperity and rich culture with the rest of the world. Decades down the line this mentality was still being taught to Fire Nation children (Zuko and Azula both learned it). |
| 205 | ** Things become even more complicated in the graphic novel continuations of the series[[spoiler:: Although the war itself has ended, cultural identities have become much fuzzier, especially in areas where Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom culture heavily mixed. This leads to many people struggling to redefine themselves in relation to their neighbors and the wider world. Team Avatar and their allies gradually learn to navigate these troubles and bring balance to war-torn areas, which eventually leads to the formation of the United Republic of Nations featured in ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra''.]] |
| 206 | * ''WesternAnimation/Thundercats2011'': While [[LectureAsExposition reciting an oral history]] during a RiteOfPassage, Thundera's King Claudus, monarch of a {{Proud Warrior Race|Guy}} of {{Cat|Folk}}s, styles his Thundercats as the great civilizers of Third Earth, who "brought law and order to a [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals world of warring Animals]]", a statement symptomatic of his people's belief that CatsAreSuperior and a cultural narrative WrittenByTheWinners. |
| 207 | [[/folder]] |
| 208 | |
| 209 | !!Real cultures |
| 210 | |
| 211 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 212 | * Feliks/[[NationsAsPeople Poland]] in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' holds his culture to be better than the other nations and tries to make Lithuania live like him. |
| 213 | ** All characters in Hetalia have this to some extent. As embodiments of nations, they all think their country is better and more advanced than any else. However, the one that does this the most has to be Korea, who uses the line "X was invented in Korea, da-ze~" as a catchphrase. |
| 214 | ** Poland/Lithuania case is a reference to when during the union, Polish nobles were prone to this. |
| 215 | [[/folder]] |
| 216 | |
| 217 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 218 | * ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'': Subverted by ComicBook/ThePunisher, of all people, during an argument with ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. |
| 219 | -->'''Captain America:''' My ways stopped Hitler, '''boy'''.\ |
| 220 | '''Punisher:''' No, sir, the '''Russians''' stopped Hitler. But I see your point. |
| 221 | * In an issue of ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' where King Mob travels back in time, this exchange occurs: |
| 222 | -->'''Lady Manning''': I am Lady Manning and my family can trace its ancestry all the way back to the Norman Conquests.\ |
| 223 | '''Mr. Skat''': ''My'' family goes all the way back to the Dogon people in Africa. Six thousand years ago, we opened the door to the outside, and let the Nommo in. My ancestors were trading with the Shining Ones when yours were daubing reindeer off the walls of the family cave. |
| 224 | * Parodied in [[ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} Deadpool Team-Up]], after accidental use of a culture swap gun. |
| 225 | -->'''Deadpool:''' "Super English! Imagine it! None of the negatives! Just the positives! The nobility, the heroism, the grit and pluck, the honesty... the strange, paralyzing inability to finish off a completely helpless foe. Because it just wouldn't be 'proper'. Damn." |
| 226 | * In a comic in ''Cricket Magazine'', a cat praised the Chinese because "They were making great porcelain while the rest of us were still on clay pots." (This is part of a lead-in to the punchline "But bird's-nest soup? What were they thinking?") |
| 227 | [[/folder]] |
| 228 | |
| 229 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 230 | * Danisha Wood and company from ''Fanfic/BackToTheFrollo'' clearly believe in the superiority of their native Indiana culture, to the point where they refuse to partake in native culture on their time-traveling trips to medieval Paris and repeatedly try to introduce their culture to native inhabitants. Many medieval Parisian characters end up speaking in Midwestern dialect. |
| 231 | * ''Fanfic/ABadWeekAtTheWizengamot'': The primary reason Fudge never considered that Harry would be able to pursue further education at another school outside Britain is his belief that being British automatically makes Hogwarts the best magical school in the world, and therefore there'd be no reason for Harry to try schooling elsewhere. He also dismisses provable claims that Hogwarts is actually far behind most other magic schools on most subjects, again due to his fervent belief in British superiority. |
| 232 | * In the ''Anton Zarnak'' fic "[[https://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/The_Serpent_Rises.pdf The Serpent Rises]]", a Nazi sorcerer is seeking a powerful talisman known as the Ring of Set ... except of course something that powerful can't ''possibly'' actually be from Ancient Egypt and must ''actually'' have been made by the ancient Aryans. He's somewhat taken aback when he does succeed in awakening one of the spirits in the ring, and is bluntly told that the ring ''does'' have its origins in African civilisations and "My race was a mighty civilization practicing deep sorceries when your ancestors were still shaping flint into spear heads!" |
| 233 | [[/folder]] |
| 234 | |
| 235 | [[folder:Films -- Animated]] |
| 236 | * In ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'', Fowler complains that Americans are "always showing up late for every war." At another point, he calls them "overpaid, oversexed, and over here", which was a derogatory phrase in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII-era Australia. |
| 237 | [[/folder]] |
| 238 | |
| 239 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 240 | * Spoofed throughout ''Film/MyBigFatGreekWedding''. |
| 241 | --> '''Gus Portokalos:''' "There are two kinds of people - Greeks, and everyone else who wish they was Greek." |
| 242 | * ''Film/TheLastSamurai'' has this exchange, an incorrect summation of Japanese versus Irish history: |
| 243 | -->'''Gant''': The bastards are still wearing armor!\ |
| 244 | '''Graham''': Yes, and when the Irish were still comporting themselves in loincloths, these chaps were already the most sophisticated warriors on Earth. |
| 245 | * The film ''Film/{{Wolfen}}'' is pretty low key in this regard until the last act, when the protagonist arrives shell-shocked at a Native American bar after his friend was mauled by a wolf. The Native American characters (one of whom is a Latino) begin rapid-fire exposition/cultural posturing as they affirm their way of life is better, the wolf spirits are above our morality, white man's technology has failed him, and he's basically facing gods dishing out divine punishment. Light-handed, it was not. Amusingly, the only two Native American cultures with legends that are directly comparable to werewolves ("skinwalkers", ''yee naaldlooshii'' in Navajo and ''popwaktu'' in Hopi)...consider them to be BlackMagic that can't even be ''used'' without crossing a MoralEventHorizon (the Navajo usually say by incest or fratricide, the Hopi by incest or cannibalism). Both tribes' gods have major ceremonies for warding off such witchery (essentially like the original European Christian view of werewolves, who viewed this a form of witchcraft, a crime [[BurnTheWitch punishable by death]]). |
| 246 | * ''Film/TheBigLebowski'', regarding Jews. |
| 247 | -->Three thousand years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax. YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I'M LIVING IN THE FUCKING PAST! |
| 248 | ** Especially hilarious since the character saying this isn't of Jewish descent, but converted to Judaism for his (now ex-) wife. |
| 249 | * ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'' has Kevin Kline's [[JerkAss character]], an American in England, randomly spouting this when annoyed. "If it wasn't for us, you'd all be speaking ''German!''". He says this ''right after'' claiming that Britain would be "the smallest fucking province in the Russian Empire." |
| 250 | * In ''Film/GhostWorld'', a Greek store owner rants about how his people "invented democracy" to an obnoxious customer. |
| 251 | * In ''Film/IvanTheTerrible'', Ivan does everything "For the sake of the great Russian kingdom (Ради русского царства великого)!" |
| 252 | * The 1989 Creator/DolphLundgren ''[[Film/ThePunisher1989 Punisher]]'' movie: When the female yakuza boss addresses the room full of mafioso, she says "While your ancestors were [[BestialityIsDepraved screwing sheep]] in the Mediterranean, mine were the crime lords of Asia." Which is inaccurate -- both the yakuza and the mafia date to the early 17th century. |
| 253 | * ''Shirley Valentine'' had the British Shirley telling off some obnoxious fellow Brits while on a vacation in Greece, she said that the Greeks have invented democracy and the wheel while they were running around and living in huts. |
| 254 | * In ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'', up until he runs into Little Bill, English Bob spends pretty much every minute of screen time extolling the supposed superiority of the British monarchy in the context of the recent assassination attempt on President Garfield. |
| 255 | * ''Film/RedNightmare'': An in-universe example is hilariously a double example on a meta-level. When Jerry sees an exhibit claiming the telephone was invented by the Russians, he yells, "That was made by Alexander Graham Bell! AND HE WAS AN AMERICAN!" Alexander Graham Bell was Scottish, thus a British citizen, while he later became a Canadian and then American too. So it would be equally plausible to call him British or a Canadian. |
| 256 | * In ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' King Faisal says to Lawrence "in the Arab city of Cordoba there were two miles of public lighting when London was a village." |
| 257 | * In ''Film/Mosul2020'', Major Jasem, an Iraqi SWAT officer and Commander Isfahani, an Iranian colonel get into a very heated argument with one another in the hideout of the latter's militia. While Major Jasem insists on the concept of a free Iraq ruled by Iraqis without foreign influence, Isfahani retorts that Iraq hasn't been a ''real'' country since ''Ancient Babylon'' and would only spell trouble for itself or Iran without Persian guidiance. |
| 258 | * ''Film/TheHammer'': When Nicaraguan-American Oswaldo and his family tout the superiority of Nicaraguan athletics, his friend Jerry pointedly notes that they seem to love talking about Nicaragua except for the part where they risked their lives to not have to live there anymore. |
| 259 | [[/folder]] |
| 260 | |
| 261 | [[folder:Jokes]] |
| 262 | * A Frenchman and an Englishman (replace nationalities as appropriate) walk into a bar, and the conversation soon turns to whose military is better. |
| 263 | -->'''Englishman:''' You Frenchmen fight for gold, while we Englishmen fight for honor!\ |
| 264 | '''Frenchman:''' But of course Monsieur, for we all fight for zat which we do not 'ave. |
| 265 | * An old joke features three people having an argument on which of their cultures is the superior one. The first is traditionally an American, who gives a list of all of America's achievements. The second is German, and he does the same. The third is Chinese, with this guy proceeding to list all of the things the Chinese achieved while Western culture was in its infancy. The American replies, "But what have you guys done lately?" As time passed, it got a secondary punchline to the tune of "[[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld Well... own you?]]" |
| 266 | [[/folder]] |
| 267 | |
| 268 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 269 | * The Knight from ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales'' does this for ancient Greece, making this trope OlderThanPrint. |
| 270 | * An example from Robert Wingrove's ''Literature/ChungKuo'' series: ''"Three thousand years of unbroken civilization--that was the heritage of the Han. Against that these large-nosed foreigners could claim what? Six centuries of chaos and ill-discipline."'' |
| 271 | * ''Literature/{{Gate}}'' has a habit of doing this with Japanese culture, due to the author's right-wing sympathies; Japan is the best at everything, and other nations trying to have a say in how they believe the expedition to the other world should be run are just trying to take over from Japan and are obviously evil. |
| 272 | * ''Literature/TheGunsOfTheSouth'' by Creator/HarryTurtledove: When Judah Benjamin, as Confederate Secretary of State, is negotiating with his U.S. counterpart Ben Butler, Butler uses anti-Semitic comments to try and rile Benjamin up, and Benjamin responds with, "While your ancestors were boar-hunting cavemen, mine were princes of the Earth." |
| 273 | * Creator/HPLovecraft, an avowed Anglophile, did this in RealLife and fiction. Although this is certainly present in many of his works, it's sometimes averted as well. As in "Literature/TheRatsInTheWalls", a story where an elitist anglophile discovers that his highly esteemed ancestral line is actually directly related to monstrous, cannibalistic sub-humans. |
| 274 | * In ''Literature/TheManyMysteriesOfTheFinkelFamily'', Lara's aunt Miriam and cousin Aviva have recently moved to America from Israel and are staying with the Finkels. Much to Lara's irritation, Aviva keeps talking about how much better everything was in Israel, from the food to the music to the public transportation. |
| 275 | * The real-life "debates" over which of the Allies "really" won World War II (see below) are referenced in ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'', where at one point Anton's friend [[ManChild Las]] sports a FunTShirt with a Red Army soldier fighting an American G.I. Anton's narration makes it clear which side his bread is buttered on, but it's mostly PlayedForLaughs[[note]] and it had better be, considering the GreyAndGrayMorality of the series and the global nature of the Watches' work[[/note]]. |
| 276 | * In ''Literature/{{Pharaoh}}'' the Egyptian priests look down on everyone: Assyrians are BarbarianTribe, Greeks are like children with their pretty poems, and don't get them started on the kingdom of Israel. |
| 277 | * ''Literature/TheSilverSkates'' does a more light-handed version of this for the country of Holland, although written by an American. Enormous chunks of the book, including a lengthy side-story only slightly related to the main plot, are devoted to describing the [[AuthorAppeal history, culture, and geography of Holland]] in very favorable terms. However, American CulturalCringe is avoided. |
| 278 | * There's a comment in ''Literature/SnowCrash'' to the effect that while the {{Yakuza}} are called the Japanese Mafia, no one ever calls TheMafia the Italian Yakuza. |
| 279 | * ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'', a Chinese-born dragon, to his Tswana captors: "My ancestors were scholars in China while yours were slaves in pits!" Something of an OutOfCharacterMoment for him, incidentally, as the rights of dragons are a major concern of his - though it is at least somewhat explained by the fact that he's worried for his captain and crew, and (a touch ironically) offended by being compared to slavers. In general, he tends to get a bit touchy about his Chinese ancestry whenever his pride is offended. |
| 280 | * Eva in Literature/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin has Armenian heritage she is very proud of and she likes to think she's above the coarse behaviour of Americans that she disdains, but as [[DeadpanSnarker Kevin]] rather [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech bluntly points out]], she's just as bad as the people she sneers at. |
| 281 | [[/folder]] |
| 282 | |
| 283 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 284 | * Commander Susan Ivanova invokes her Russianness repeatedly on ''Series/BabylonFive''. This is usually played for laughs, as SelfDeprecation, showing the lighter side of the workaholic, near-neurotically professional officer (e.g., other characters' comments expressing a depressing worldview are generally met with some form of "that's very Russian"). Her Jewishness (she's a Russian Jew) is rarely mentioned, although it does seem to inspire her spirituality (she often makes asides to a God who seems to have a very late-Old Testament sense of humor, and she is very moved when she sits Shiva for her father) and pepper her language (she says "what am ''I'', chopped [[HoldYourHippogriffs flarn]]?" and "for this, you wake me up?" within five minutes of one another in one episode). |
| 285 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' as Boyle ''successfully'' sweet-talks some Latvian mobsters with the following joke: |
| 286 | -->'''Boyle:''' What did one Estonian farmer say to the other? [[CannotTellAJoke Our crop yields are so much smaller than that of mighty Latvia.]][[note]]Read more at: http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=429&t=30260[[/note]] |
| 287 | * The back and forth between the ArrogantKungFuGuy experts on ''Series/DeadliestWarrior'' often amounts to this. |
| 288 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 289 | ** The Doctor does this by occasionally poking fun at the national pride of other nations since he feels he stands above them all as a Time Lord. In one episode, a Brigadier is discussing Great Britain's responsibility for managing a stockpile of nuclear codes: |
| 290 | --->'''Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart:''' Naturally, the only people who could be trusted with this responsibility was Great Britain.\ |
| 291 | '''The Doctor:''' Naturally. I mean, all the rest were foreigners. |
| 292 | ** However, occasionally the Doctor's fondness for the British shines through, such as in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild "The Empty Child"]], where he admits to greatly admiring their courage and continued {{defian|tToTheEnd}}ce during the Second World War, even against all odds. |
| 293 | --->'''The Doctor:''' Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it, nothing. Until one tiny, damp little island says "No. No, not here". A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you! I don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me! |
| 294 | * ''{{Series/Due South}}'': Fraser mentions the War of 1812 to a class of schoolkids. "Your country invaded our country and we sent you packing." |
| 295 | * In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Ross's father claims [[AmericaWonWorldWarII "We bailed you out in World War Two!"]] while arguing with his fiancee Emily's parents. |
| 296 | * ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': |
| 297 | ** "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E1InThroesOfIncreasingWonder In Throes of Increasing Wonder...]]": The Frenchman Lestat de Lioncourt outright calls America a "primitive country." He regards his homeland to be more civilized, cultured and sophisticated because (by European reckoning) it's far older than the New World. The Kingdom of France was founded in the year 987 [[note]]although one can go back even further to the establishment of West Francia in 843 as the birth of the French nation[[/note]], while the USA became an independent country in 1776, plus France was still a colonial power in 1910, whereas America wouldn't attain superpower status until after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. |
| 298 | ** "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E2AfterThePhantomsOfYourFormerSelf ...After the Phantoms of Your Former Self]]": |
| 299 | *** PlayedWith when Lestat brings up that he used to despise the English language, but he later became enamoured with it. |
| 300 | ---->'''Lestat''': When I first started learning English, I abhorred it. Every word felt like a doorknob falling out of my mouth. ''Chapeau'' is a hat, ''étoile'' was a star... But when I started dreaming in English, that's when I embraced it. And now, I have English consonants to thank for this [[ProudBeauty astonishing jawline]]. |
| 301 | *** Later, Lestat -- who is a great admirer of European classical music and opera -- has a mocking facial expression when he tells Florence (an African American) "I see you have a banjo band in your front yard," so he considers banjo music (the banjo was invented by African Americans) to be inferior. |
| 302 | ** "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E3IsMyVeryNatureThatOfADevil Is My Very Nature That of a Devil]]": While reading a newspaper article at Jackson Square, Lestat idealizes New Orleans when it was under French rule, but Louis de Pointe du Lac, a black Creole, points out to his boyfriend that France was just as terrible as the United States in terms of how slaves were treated. |
| 303 | --->'''Lestat''': There's a column in here about the history of this lovely square. It says that the man who designed it did so after the Place de Vosges in Paris. I can see that. Used to be called the Place d'Armes. I prefer that, don't you? The Louisiana Purchase was signed here. Penny-wise, franc-foolish.\ |
| 304 | '''Louis''': Say anything about how they used to take runaway slaves, cut their heads off, and pike 'em on the iron gates as a warning?\ |
| 305 | ''(DramaticPause)''\ |
| 306 | '''Lestat''': I'm only halfway through, let's see. |
| 307 | * ''Series/NotTheNineOClockNews'' had a comment on the bellicose nature of the US under Reagan as "trying to make up for being late to the last two world wars by being really punctual this time". |
| 308 | * In the ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' episode "A Body Worth Guarding," the guys are assigned to bodyguard a snobby Russian ballerina who is always complaining about American culture. As Hutch puts it, "I don't want to do any flag-waving, but every time she says 'America' it sounds like something that makes her nauseous." |
| 309 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 310 | ** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': |
| 311 | *** A minor RunningGag with Pavel Chekov (most prominent in "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles The Trouble with Tribbles]]") is that he claims that many things are a "Russian [[FunetikAksent inwention]]" or were located in Russia. According to him, Pavel Chekov claims that Scotch whiskey was inwented by a little old lady from Leningrad,[[note]]He's probably {{troll}}ing Scotty with this one.[[/note]], the Garden of Eden was just outside Moscow, and "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" is an old Russian proverb -- in ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'', he does this with the tale of Cinderella. While such clownish national pride would be considered a little insulting in modern times, the show was written at the height of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar and was thus a [[FairForItsDay rather big step up]] in the depiction of the Russian character. However, in the video game ''VideoGame/JudgmentRites'', an alcoholic beverage that Chekov said was first created in Russia actually turns out to have been first created ''in'' Russia. |
| 312 | *** Spock and [=McCoy=] love to posture their respective Vulcan and human cultures to each other. |
| 313 | ** In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Picard enjoys looking down on Q, even quoting Shakespeare to him until Q gets disgusted and left. Q, of course, provokes this intentionally. |
| 314 | * In an episode of ''Series/SteptoeAndSon'' where 'arold and his father get into a fight on a plane; when an American tries to stop it/join in, dad pushes him away with a contemptuous "Late again!", referring to the common English perception about American involvement in World War 2. |
| 315 | * On ''Series/That70sShow'', Red says to ConspiracyTheorist Hyde: "Damn US Government?! Without our government, you'd be stuck in Siberia now sucking the juice out of a rotten commie potato!" |
| 316 | * ''Series/TheWestWing'': |
| 317 | ** After trying (and failing) to get Lord [[AssInAmbassador John Marbury]], the new British Ambassador to the United States, to support a new missile shield defense system that Leo is supporting, Leo takes him aside at a dinner party pretty much for the sole reason of snottily reminding him who kicked whose ass at the Battle of Yorktown in the American War of Independence. |
| 318 | ** In another episode, the same two characters memorably avert this, when Marbury concisely defines the "original sins" of their two nations: Ireland (UK) and slavery (US). |
| 319 | [[/folder]] |
| 320 | |
| 321 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 322 | * Music/FlandersAndSwann's parody of English cultural posturing, "A Song of Patriotic Prejudice". |
| 323 | --> It's not that you're wicked or naturally bad |
| 324 | --> It's knowing you're foreign that's driving you mad! |
| 325 | ** And as a spoof of a parody, the Series/TheArmstrongAndMillerShow version, "Foreigners": |
| 326 | --> All points abroad are swathed on mediocrity |
| 327 | --> 'Cos foreigners are a terrible bunch of c*cut to testcard* |
| 328 | [[/folder]] |
| 329 | |
| 330 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 331 | * Wrestling/{{Rikidozan}} and Japan, even though he was Korean. (Japan was more inflammatory to US crowds, due to World War II) |
| 332 | * Wrestling/NikitaKoloff and "The Great Soviet Union". |
| 333 | * Wrestling/TheIronSheik would tout the greatness of Iran and Russian while [[SpitefulSpit spitting]] at the utterance of USA. |
| 334 | * Sucio Dutch Mantel was particularly nasty, citing the superiority of Puerto Ricans who left the island over those who stayed on it. He felt non-Puerto Ricans were superior regardless and that Spanish itself was a primitive language. |
| 335 | * Hans von Doering and Germany over the Caribbean, especially Puerto Rico. Later became a staple of Wrestling/{{All Japan|ProWrestling}}, lording his possession of the Unified Triple Crown Championship belt over all Japanese people. |
| 336 | * The Ballard Brothers and Canada, often overlooking the fact they had [[Wrestling/CheerleaderMelissa an American valet]]. They've actually had a string of American valets. |
| 337 | * [[Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli Tenshi Takami]] and Japan over Switzerland. Double C and Switzerland over Germany. Antonio Cesaro and Europeans over Americans. |
| 338 | * Alex Koslov and Russia over USA, Mexico, and Japan. Cuba's okay though. |
| 339 | * Dominican Boy, a Puerto Rican resident who hated the culture and island, renouncing it in favor of the Dominican Republic. |
| 340 | * After Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}} won the World Heavyweight Championship Wrestling/TripleH introduced, he started negatively comparing wherever he happened to be to Toronto in Canada. Wrestling/KevinSteen and Steve Corino likewise negatively compared Dearborn Michigan to Canadian cities. Steen and Corino didn't get much response though, because most of the Wrestling/RingOfHonor Gold Rush audience had driven in from somewhere else and thus didn't feel personally insulted. |
| 341 | * TV Tropes is a great website and all, but it doesn't shine brightest in the galaxy, like Nikki Storm. It can't compare to the luster of the dynamite queen because it's not from Glasgow, Scotland. |
| 342 | * "El Leon" Apolo and the superiority of Puerto Ricans, especially if it is a World Wrestling League show in Mexico and he happens to be talking to a Mexican. Even more especially if Cien Caras is around. Wrestling/CarlitoColon and Wrestling/IvelisseVelez aren't quite as demeaning to Mexicans but have still proclaimed Puerto Rico to be "The Greatest Place Ever". |
| 343 | * Greek God Papadon wants to remind you the Greeks invented theater, and more importantly, the Greeks invented wrestling. You Mexicans with [[MaskedLuchador your masks and your lucha libre]], is a perversion of his Greek heritage! |
| 344 | * Venezuelan Dynamite Didi Cruz never shies away from reminding anyone that "Latinas do it better." Even though a large majority of her enemies are Latinas. |
| 345 | * Wrestling/TheGreatMuta says Seiya Sanada is the greatest [[Wrestling/{{TNA}} X-Division]] Champion there is. He beat all American wrestlers![[/folder]] |
| 346 | |
| 347 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 348 | * Spontaneously parodied in an episode of ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'', by having the subject of pride be completely daft. Humph mentions the traditional Yorkshire folk song "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'At" and mumbles that he doesn't know what it means. Barry Cryer -- regular panelist, and born in Leeds -- speaks up. |
| 349 | -->'''Barry:''' Without a hat. Baht 'at -- on Ilkley Moor without a hat.\ |
| 350 | '''Humph:''' ...Well, why can't they just say 'without a hat'?\ |
| 351 | '''Barry:''' [[OopNorth 'Cause we're the salt of the earth, that's why!]] |
| 352 | [[/folder]] |
| 353 | |
| 354 | [[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]] |
| 355 | * English comedian Creator/EddieIzzard on World War 2: The Americans were apparently watching old cavalry movies because they came to the rescue in the nick of time. "Dun Dun Dun DUH! HERE COMES AMERICA! AHHH I Love the smell of Europe in the morning! Now, what's for brunch?" "WHAT? Where have you been! We're bloody knackered!" |
| 356 | [[/folder]] |
| 357 | |
| 358 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 359 | * In ''Theatre/StreetScene'', an Italian-American and a Swedish-American get into a heated argument over whether Christopher Columbus or Leif Erickson was the first man to discover America. |
| 360 | * ''Theatre/OfTheeISing'': |
| 361 | -->'''Senator from Massachusetts''': Mr. Chairman! I would like to call the attention of the Senate to a matter that has been puzzling me for some time. It has to do with a very interesting TabletopGame/{{bridge}} hand, in which the cards were distributed as follows: East held the four aces, West the four kings, North the four queens, and South--ah--nothing of any importance.\ |
| 362 | '''[[SouthernGentleman Lyons]]''' ''(Rising indignantly)'': Mr. Chairman! The South will never be satisfied with a hand like that! |
| 363 | * In ''[[Theatre/AnneOfGreenGables Anne of Green Gables]]'', the children perform a musical number that portrays Prince Edward Island, of all places, as "the heart of the world, set in the crossroads of the sea." |
| 364 | [[/folder]] |
| 365 | |
| 366 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 367 | * Cultural Victory in any game of the ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' series boils down to this - being the most cultured civilization in the world. In vanilla ''V'', for example, it's earned by accumulating enough Culture points over the course of the game to complete five Social Policy trees and then build the Utopia Project before another civilization does the same thing or fulfills any other victory condition. However, the Cultural Victory has been overhauled in the ''Brave New World'' expansion; while you still cannot really be a contender for this victory type without producing huge amounts of Culture per turn and constructing a lot of Wonders, instead of building the Utopia Project, you need to make sure that your total Tourism per each civilization is higher than their total Culture, which essentially means that in case of success your culture displaces all other civilizations' cultures ''within their own habitats of origin and development''. In both vanilla and expansion cases, if you manage to do the condition required, [[InstantWinCondition it's game over no matter how puny you might be in terms of military or occupied land area compared to the other civs]]. |
| 368 | ** Being a game mechanic in ''V'' and ''VI'', the "Culture Bomb" allows you to capture all tiles adjacent to the one on which it occurred, providing an unusual, non-violent way to take over nearby territory. Its uniqueness comes from the fact that it does so regardless of whether the territory is unowned or controlled by someone, and while the former seems to be a bit atypical example of SettlingTheFrontier, the latter apparently has some connection to this trope, albeit only when targeting land tiles (as obviously there cannot be any posturing without a populace to appreciate the splendor of your culture and succumb to its influence): |
| 369 | *** In vanilla ''V'', the "Culture Bomb" is a unique ability of Great Artists, unambiguously implying that neighbor civ's tiles will become your property due to how very cultured you are! In the ''Gods & Kings'' expansion, though, Great Artists were deprived of this now nominally removed ability, the effect of which was instead given to Great Generals to make their own "Construct a Citadel" ability even more useful, at the cost of abandoning the trope. |
| 370 | *** In ''VI'', the "Culture Bomb" is much more common since it has a lot of potential sources of triggering, the most notable of which are civilization-specific ones that require you to build something (e.g., an Encampment or a Fort as Poland or a Pasture as Australia), thus presumably reflecting the superiority of the civilization's cultural way and thereby convincing everyone around the "bombed" tile to follow it as well by joining the civ in question. |
| 371 | ** ''VideoGame/CivilizationBeyondEarth'', a franchise spinoff, doesn't have a Cultural Victory per se at all but at least partially makes up for it by having such a leader as [[WomanOfWealthAndTaste Élodie]], the leader of the Franco-Iberia colonial sponsor - she is a firm believer that Western Europe has a superior culture to everyone else. Naturally, it is her faction that is the most culture-focused one. |
| 372 | -->''"We have discovered alien life on our new world. Unsurprisingly, it grows, reproduces, dies, and cannot understand French."'' |
| 373 | * ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' has Shaun's commentary in the notes ''constantly'' snarking on Americans, their history and government, while extolling the virtues and superiority of the British. Not that the French get let off. |
| 374 | -->'''Shaun Hastings:''' We British have a day to celebrate our victories over the French. We call it ''every day, all year''. |
| 375 | [[/folder]] |
| 376 | |
| 377 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 378 | * Kismet and her friends in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse. Kismet is Belgian, and her group at SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy is so pro-European (Western Europe at that) and anti-American that they are known around the school as the 'Beret Mafia'. |
| 379 | * Shinji Heyerdahl expresses this towards Japanese culture in ''Literature/{{Pyrrhic}}'' [[ImplausibleDeniability denying]] the fact that he himself is half-Japanese and half-American. In his inner rants, he calls non-Japanese people ''gaijin'', but reserves most of his racial hatred towards Joshua (mostly because he's dating Shinji's sister), calling him ''jingai''. In contrast, Helmut Schuwald cares nothing for Germany, his home country, and instead has adopted America as his new home. |
| 380 | * In ''Literature/LookToTheWest'' [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/look-to-the-west-volume-viii-the-bear-and-the-basilisk.495774/page-7#post-21058493 Part 276.3]], a Chinese diplomat tells the French ambassador "I need not remind you that China was a great civilisation when your ancestors were still chucking axes at legionaries of the Daqin Empire." |
| 381 | [[/folder]] |
| 382 | |
| 383 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 384 | * Uncle Ruckus of ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' believes white people did everything good throughout history, and that [[BoomerangBigot blacks like himself... didn't]]. |
| 385 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Spelling Bee My Baby", Mrs. Yoshida claims she'll win a fight with Francine since they'll be fighting to the ''death'' and "[she's] Asian, this is [her] culture." Cue a substantial loss of confidence when it's revealed that Francine also has an Asian background thanks to her adoptive Chinese parents. |
| 386 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'', Anne tries to buy food from a food stall, only for the vendor to try and dissuade her, doubtful that she can handle its spiciness. Anne proceeds to brag that she can handle any level of spice he can possibly throw at her because she's Thai. [[FireBreathingDiner She can't]]. |
| 387 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 388 | ** The "We [[AmericaWonWorldWarII "We bailed you out in World War Two!"]] argument was [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in a future episode. When Moe tells Lisa's English fiance that they bailed them out in World War 2, he responds by reminding him that the English bailed the Americans out in World War 3. Moe admits that this is true. |
| 389 | ** Exaggerated in an episode where the family goes to Britain and [[TheFool Homer]] tries to shame a local telling him out of the blue that the Americans saved the Brits' ass ''[[ArtisticLicenseHistory in Vietnam]]''. |
| 390 | [[/folder]] |
| 391 | |
| 392 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 393 | * During a debate in the British Parliament, a young UsefulNotes/BenjaminDisraeli was heckled with the cry of "Jew! Jew!". He replied, "My people were kings and princes, when yours were galley slaves." (For the record, he's giving a bit of a RoseTintedNarrative -- the Kingdom of Judah also eventually became a Roman dominion.) In an open letter to the ''Times'' of London he remarked "Yes, I am a Jew and when the ancestors of the right honorable gentleman were brutal savages in an unknown island, mine were priests in the temple of Solomon." Since he was talking specifically about the Irish with that quote: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newgrange Newgrange]]: circa 3200 BCE. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon%27s_Temple Solomon's Temple]]: circa mid-900s BCE. |
| 394 | * American Senator Judah P. Benjamin made a similar observation on the Senate floor: "It is true that I am a Jew, and when my ancestors were receiving their Ten Commandments from the immediate Deity, amidst the thundering and lightnings of Mt. Sinai, the ancestors of my opponent were herding swine in the forests of Great Britain." Unfortunately, he was defending slavery at the time. |
| 395 | * One common real-life version of this is referring to a foreign concept in relation to one's own culture (for instance, Creator/{{Moliere}}, Calderon, and Creator/AlexanderPushkin have been called the French, Spanish, and Russian Creator/{{Shakespeare}} respectively). |
| 396 | * UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo is a favorite source of Cultural Posturing among several different countries, usually among those from the Allies, and ''especially'' among the "Big Three" (United States, United Kingdom, Russia/Soviet Union). Many people from these countries don't want to share the credit for winning the war, even though it took all three Allies to beat the Axis. Russia and the United States would have been in big trouble if Britain hadn't held the line. Neither Britain nor Russia could have carried on without American logistical support and command of the Pacific front (which in turn would have been almost impossible without Australian aid, and so on, and so on). Without the Russians holding most of the Nazi attention on the Eastern Front, Britain and the United States would have had a ''much'' bloodier fight on their hands. It gets especially annoying when nobody in the argument is even old enough to have been around when the war happened let alone actually fought in it. |
| 397 | ** Whenever Americans and British people get into arguments, it often will involve the American claiming [[AmericaWonWorldWarII "We bailed you out in World War Two!"]]. |
| 398 | ** On the other hand, British people will turn AmericaWonWorldWarII on its head by either claiming that it was Britain that shouldered the lion's share of the work while America stayed out of the war and reaped the benefits (in an equally offensive Britain Wins The War type argument) and/or claiming they owe more to the Russians than to the Americans. |
| 399 | ** Russians also have their own form of "The Soviet Union Wins The War," arguing that since the Nazis suffered 80% of their losses on the Eastern Front (fighting with armies of no less than three million men at all times for a total turnover of 8 million Soviet and 4 Million German soldiers dead, whereas Britain and the USA fielded a couple of million men with losses of less than a million put together) as well as being the only ones present at the Battles of Stalingrad, Kursk, and Berlin (the biggest of the war), the Russians won the war all by themselves. Never mind the effect of Anglo-American lend-lease aid (which accounted for as much as 25% of all Soviet war-time production and staved off a Soviet famine), that in mid-1943 the Luftwaffe mysteriously vanished, that more than a third of the German army was preoccupied with the Anglo-Americans at all times, etc. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Also, the Soviet Union did not at all collaborate with the Nazis for their own territorial aggrandizement and absolutely did not end up fighting them due to a falling out among thieves, how dare you even suggest that]]. It might not be easily noticeable in the Anglosphere, compared to American and British attitudes, but it can and will pop up [[UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism anywhere World War II is discussed]]. |
| 400 | ** CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys is this trope inverted and directed towards the French. Never mind all their military accomplishments up to that point, including ''[[TheDreaded Napoleon.]]'' The fact that Germany absolutely crushed them during WWII essentially cemented their poor military reputation. The fact that the Germans crushed the British and other Allies too is conveniently forgotten. |
| 401 | ** And then there's a matter of what the "UK", "US" and "USSR" are. The entire British Empire contributed to the war, with all the dominions; all the US territories, not just the 48 (at the time states); and all the Soviet republics, not only Russia - which is often forgotten by Britons, Americans and Russians. |
| 402 | * UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars can often cause the same kind of posturing as World War II. Considering how often alliances changed, the sides are less clear-cut, but to this day which nation deserves the lion's share of the credit for beating Napoleon will usually depend on what language the history is being written in. The British are proud of opposing him for twenty solid years and racking up huge naval victories, the Russians are proud of crushing the Grand Armee during Napoleon's invasion, and the Germans/Austrians can boast some of the only field victories over the man himself. |
| 403 | * During UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, propaganda efforts took this tack occasionally. For example, [[http://www.psywarrior.com/JapblackltrpropC.jpg the Japanese leaflet]] from [[http://www.psywarrior.com/JapanPSYOPWW2.html this collection]] says in English: ''"Our history is ten times older than yours. While your ancestors were roaming around as savages, Japan was already civilized. We are civilized much more than you Americans."'' |
| 404 | * Strangely, for all his racist arrogance and claims of superiority, UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler actually ''inverted'' this on the Germans when drawing comparisons with the Italians. He was annoyed that his lackey Himmler tried to dig up Germanic tribal artifacts from archaeological sites, and mocked him by stating that the Romans were already highly civilized when the Germans were still living in huts. |
| 405 | * It's somewhat rare for the American Revolution to be brought up as an instance of American Cultural Posturing. Whenever it is, it's almost '''always''' followed up by a DeadpanSnarker reminding everyone that the Americans had help from the French. Sometimes this even gets turned into French Cultural Posturing instead, suggesting that France carried all the burden of freeing the Thirteen Colonies, even though the French needed the Americans to carry some of their own objectives. Lafayette ''was'' leading an army of Americans, after all--and when the English tried to pass over Washington and surrender to Rochambeau, he called them on it. |
| 406 | * Related to this, both the British and the Americans always insist that UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution was the "good revolution" while UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution was the "bad" one that led to mob rule, anarchy, and the ReignOfTerror and later set an example for other brutal revolutions, chiefly UsefulNotes/RedOctober. UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher did not endear herself to the public when she touted the "Glorious Revolution" during France's bicentennial (where she was a guest). The fact that contemporary democratic ideals (anti-racism, religious tolerance, popular suffrage, people's right to protest) resemble the French example more than the American and English ones gets lost in this simple win/lose vision of history, which presumes an unbroken continuity that brushes away the great deal of civil strife, CivilWar, and oppression of minorities that happened in America and England as it did in France, as well as the nasty treatment of British Loyalists that occurred in a newly-independent US that saw them as traitors and [[LesCollaborateurs collaborators]]; many Canadians trace their heritage to Loyalists who fled the country when their property was seized without compensation. |
| 407 | * Canadians, on the other hand, are always quick to brag about the UsefulNotes/WarOf1812, treating it as a CurbStompBattle in Canada's favor--as exemplified in claims that Canadian forces "[[WashingtonDCInvasion burned down the U.S. capital]]." That was actually the work of British Army regulars who'd just arrived from Europe, and it was also in retaliation for (among other things) American forces burning down ''Canada's'' own capital of York (known today as Toronto). |
| 408 | ** Broader examples involving the War of 1812 are the assertions among Canadians, British, and Americans that their people were the ones who won the war. In reality, the war was more or less inconclusive ("status quo ante bellum"); none of the sides involved got what they ''really'' wanted (though you will certainly find arguments over which side achieved its war aims), and in fact holding the line and not giving up territory to their enemy has become a point of pride for '''''both''''' the Americans and Canadians (paradoxically), as well as being an establishing moment of cultural identity for both Americans and (English) Canadians (again, paradoxically). |
| 409 | ** Britons are more likely to [[ButForMeItWasTuesday have little recollection that the War of 1812 even happened]] (or pretend to be unaware of it in order to troll Americans) since they were also [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars doing more important things at the time]]. |
| 410 | * Modern-day Arabs [[note]] And other Muslims, except for Iranians (see below) [[/note]] often pull this on Westerners. You'll commonly hear that Muslim nations gave more rights to women and the condemned than Western countries and that there were long stretches of history where Muslim countries were more scientifically advanced than Western nations. There was certainly quite a lot of valuable research done by Arab scholars like Ibn al-Haitham and Jabir ibn Hayyan, and it's true that both trading with and warring against the Arabs really helped spur the European Renaissance[[note]]Believe it or not, one of the things coveted by Europeans during the Crusades were copies of Greek and Latin scientific texts![[/note]]--however, this sort of posturing ignores the fact that Europe's Dark Ages were not ''nearly'' as dark [[MedievalMorons as they are commonly depicted]]. |
| 411 | ** Sometimes you'll see a riposte from Westerners who counter scientific sophistication with social progressiveness--for example, claims that Islam has always allowed men sexual rights to their slaves, while both Christianity and Judaism ''never'' have (apart from the American South). Those who know about [[DatedHistory late 20th to early 21st century discoveries regarding medieval European society]] like to point out that French and Germanic medieval societies had a long history of egalitarianism dating back to their pagan roots. For example, you'll hear that 12th-century Frenchwomen owned property, practiced trades, filed lawsuits, and ''voted'' in any assembly where men could. 12th-century Turkish, Arab, or even Byzantine women ... not so much. And they might follow it up by pointing out that in some respects, modern Arab societies are ''less'' socially progressive in the 21st century than they were in the 12th. |
| 412 | * [[UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} Iranians]] pull this a lot on Arabs, citing the ancient Persian civilization (going back to Cyrus the Great) compared to the comparatively recent Arab one. Ironically, the Achaemenid Dynasty used Aramaic -- which is a Semitic language close to Arabic -- as the language of the court. In fact, Persians were always influenced to great degrees by their Semitic-speaking neighbors, and this didn't simply start with Arabs (of course, the reverse is also true, to a degree). |
| 413 | * Get a bunch of Americans from different states together and there will inevitably be some state-pride based posturing. |
| 414 | ** A popular joke between neighboring states is "If you took the northern/southern/eastern/western counties of State A and transferred them to State B, both states' average IQ would go up." |
| 415 | * Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe did it on behalf of the Chinese when he observed "These people were already writing books when we were still forest-dwellers." |
| 416 | * The British once ruled the largest empire ever, and have never let anyone forget it. Ever. Especially Americans, usually along the lines of "You're just a jumped-up colony that we used to own." Today, the majority of the land in the modern-day United States was never under British rule. |
| 417 | * Some descendants of Irish immigrants from the days of colonization of the United States joke about being immortal. This is because Ireland is geographically in the same place as Atlantis is in the non-Irish Atlantis stories, but aside from that, the assertion doesn't have any real basis aside from [[PhenotypeStereotype the red hair not graying as fast]]. |
| 418 | * [[UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi Mohandas Gandhi's]] famous comment on Western Christian civilization: "I think it would be a very good idea." |
| 419 | * Conspiracy theorist Creator/FrancisEDec claimed that the Slovenic-Polish population were the most ingenious race and the creators of all science and religion. The fact that he was of Polish-American heritage ''might'' have had something to do with it... |
| 420 | * Israeli Jews pull this a lot on their Arab neighbors, who do the same to Israel. Of course, [[UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict given the state of affairs between them]], it's not surprising. This plays out very much like the Western world (where Israel is a convenient proxy for the West, being more culturally Western than Middle Eastern, or Asian for that matter) vs. the Arab world mentioned above: Israelis and their supporters see themselves as a bastion of civilization in a barbaric Middle East, while the Arab world accuses Israel of stealing everything culturally distinctive from them. |
| 421 | * Georges Clemenceau once said: "England, that French colony that went wrong." (''Angleterre, cette colonie française qui a mal tourné.'')[[note]] For those wishing to deny the Frenchness of the Norman invaders it is worth recalling that a) they spoke French, b) technically the Duke of Normandy was a vassal of the King of France, c) the Normans actually descended from Danish and Norwegian invaders for the most part were also descended from indigenous French women, d) Normandy still is part of France (with the exception of the Channel Islands), and e) William's army also contained a sizeable Breton contingent, and Brittany also belongs to modern France.[[/note]] |
| 422 | * Flemish people who know their history will point out that many of the artists and scientists who contributed to 'the Golden Century' which made The Netherlands a ProudMerchantRace were actually refugees from Antwerp and other cities caught in the crossfire between the (Spanish) Habsburgs and the Dutch, trying to escape the chaos of [[UsefulNotes/TheEightyYearsWar 'The Dutch Revolt']]. |
| 423 | * Some "Third Culture Kids" tend to display this attitude towards the communities and countries they live in, whether or not such arrogance is perceived or intentional. Compared to other examples, these tend to flaunt their constantly changing environments, travels, and more globally-minded worldview at the expense of the locals. |
| 424 | ** They often prefer the place they have moved to over their home country because they are better off due to work covering housing and expenses, the international schools they go to are full of people just like them (not judgemental), and, if they come from England, chances are the country they move to is bigger and has more of a sense of adventure to it. It is very rare for somebody to move to a country and prefer their home country unless they are a patriot. |
| 425 | ** On a similar note, writer and world traveller [[http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Ba20Spo-t1-body-d30.html Pico Iyer]] noted the ironic tendencies of people like him to embrace this trope, just from another angle. |
| 426 | -->"We tell ourselves, self-servingly, that nationalism breeds monsters and choose to ignore the fact that internationalism breeds them too. Ours is the culpability not of the assassin, but of the bystander who takes a snapshot of the murder. Or, when the revolution catches fire, hops on the next plane out." |
| 427 | * Very common in Mexican culture (and sometimes, some other Latin American ones) because the only better examples they have are the U.S. and Canada, and partly because American and Canadian laws, traditions and ethics are different from the Latin American ones. |
| 428 | ** In Mexico, sometimes this is amplified by Mexicans themselves, as besides U.S. and Canada, they also compare Mexico with '''Japan'''. In fact, for driving the point home, there's something in Mexico sometimes called ''The American Newspaper Box Syndrome'', which is the explanation for why in Mexico there are no newspaper boxes in the streets, completely ignoring the fact that in the U.S. those newspaper boxes are also problematic, regarding the existing laws. |
| 429 | ** This also happens in Spain, albeit to a less degree: a Spaniard newspaper criticized the Spaniard education system by comparing it with the one from Japan, describing the Spaniard college students having the same learning level [[InsultToRocks of Japanese junior high ones]]. |
| 430 | * Filipinos are known to say "Pinoy Pride" or "Proud to be Filipino" whenever a Filipino (or someone with Filipino blood) earned international recognition, particularly when that person does well in entertainment industry (e.g. Charice, Jessica Sanchez) or wins a boxing match (e.g. Manny Pacquiao). [[http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/30091-matter-national-insecurity Whenever someone criticizes anything about the Philippines]], Filipinos would [[BerserkButton react]] negatively to it. There is also a debate about whether "Pinoy Pride" is a strength to encourage Filipinos that they can do anything or UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism. |
| 431 | * Often crops up between different German-speaking states and countries. Special mention should probably go to [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland Bavaria]], whose fierce patriotism and pride is rather infamous. "Austrians? A bunch of [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic imperialistic hillbillies]] whose collective arses [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars we kicked]]. The Württembergians? Hippies and loudmouthed dullards, all of them! Prussians? [[{{Kaiserreich}} Arrogant militant bureaucratic pricks]]. Saxons? [[UsefulNotes/EastGermany Communists]]!" |
| 432 | * In the mid-1930s, the Austrian fascist movement actually was largely opposed to unification with UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. Not on the basis of any ideological opposition to Hitler's brutality and racism (they thought all of that was great), but purely because of cultural posturing. They believed that Austrians were "better Germans" and Austria was the "better Germany", and thus they'd be made less pure by uniting with Hitler's Germany. Ironically, they were able to take this stance with the support of a foreign sponsor: Mussolini, who (prior to his alliance with Nazi Germany) saw Austria as a useful buffer state and sought to expand Italian influence there. |
| 433 | * In some parts of Nigeria, it is actually considered patriotism to take part in the infamous FourOneNineScam, where those who are successful in defrauding foreigners are treated like heroes and kings. |
| 434 | * Britain and Argentina tend to engage in this whenever the Falkland Islands are brought up. Also Britain and Spain over Gibraltar. |
| 435 | [[/folder]] |
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