If you re-read my comment and the comment I was replying to, you will see that I wasn't making any claims about America being or not being the greatest country in the world. I was pointing out how "American Exceptiolism" will sometimes cause me to think things which "are great" as being american when they aren't american at all.

* you: Swedes can import expensive treatments from US corporations

* Parent: Alot of those are from non-US (Switzerland, Germany, Philips)

* my comment: When I think of "Philips", I think it's an american company

* my comment: When I was watching 2 top athletes, my default assumption was that they were american, even though it's extremely obvious that they aren't. Which exposes how ridiculous the framing is.

Unless a company actively promotes that it’s a foreign company in their branding, “German engineering”/“Swedish design” or similar with their name/branding, I will assume it’s an American company.

I think one of the reasons "American Exceptionalism" is dangerous, is that it holds us back from improving on things which aren't actually the best. If an American politican says "This is the greatest country in the world", that is an emotional argument to keep things exactly the same.