Can we please stop with the fetishization of Iceland and its culture. There are many positive qualities in modern day Icelandic society, but there are also an

Can we please stop with the fetishization of Iceland and its culture. There are many positive qualities in modern day Icelandic society, but there are also an equal amount of negative aspects that rarely make it into the international headlines. And most of the positive attention is often based on the delutional ideas Icelanders themselves have as being superior to others (direct lineages to vikings, fighting the elements for generations, having that special spark that can't possibly exist elsewhere on a planet of 7 billion people.....) In my experience, Icelandic society has an ingrained sense of inferiority from its long history of being left behind as Europe and the US developed further ahead (and from being a tiny spec in the modern landscape). It wasn't until aid from the Marshall Plan hit the shores of this country that it was able to partially catch up to the rest of the western world (and not until some decades later). Iceland, for its part of being neutral in the war and not having any fighting happen within its borders, got the highest ratio of aid per capita than any other country. This effect can be seen anytime Iceland, or anything related to the country, gets any positive publicity in the foreign press or by internationally recognized individuals as the local(s)/ news goes crazed reporting on it, even going so far as starting to calling whom ever gave the attention "friends of Iceland" (Íslandsvinur). Icelandic people will also turn nauseatingly nationalistic when interacting with outsiders, falling over themselves trying to offload as much local history, lore and what they perceive as local wisdom on life and work in an attempt to be elevated in the eyes of those they are talking to, when most times what is said is not grounded in reality or fact. I say this as a born and raised Icelander.