For those russians, I think it's more the general trend that people think whatever country / culture they've grown up in is the best. The french think they are the best people, the british think they're the best deep down inside, chinese think they're the best, americans think they're better than everyone, and the canadians think they're better than the americans. The mexicans are proud to be mexican, the malaysians are proud to be malaysian and so on. Everyone thinks they are the best in some way, even if they think all of the gringos have a lot of cash and you can't breathe the air in beijing.
The middle class think they're better than the lower and upper class, and the lower class think they're better than the rest. SF thinks it's better than NYC and those finance wonks with our software industry, NYC thinks it better than the rest of the world, and DC thinks I'm the center of power here!
My city's sports team is the best sports team, and screw my city's rivals! Xbox vs Playstation, this vs that. Those scary islamic people vs. my secular atheism or mormonism.
It's the human tribalism instinct, and it's turtles all the way down.
The middle class think they're better than the lower and upper class, and the lower class think they're better than the rest. SF thinks it's better than NYC and those finance wonks with our software industry, NYC thinks it better than the rest of the world, and DC thinks I'm the center of power here!
My city's sports team is the best sports team, and screw my city's rivals! Xbox vs Playstation, this vs that. Those scary islamic people vs. my secular atheism or mormonism.
It's the human tribalism instinct, and it's turtles all the way down.