>>working hard solves everything and that their country is the best in the world period
>what's wrong with that exactly?
I think I can answer this.
The Puritan work ethic is great. Working hard actually does solve many, many problems.
So, why is there an issue? When it is assumed that working hard fixes all problems, then it is also assumed that if there are problems then the reason must be that someone didn't work hard enough to solve that problem. This causes people to dismiss problems as if they know the root cause when they really don't. This is a huge problem.
As for the 'best in the world, period' issue? Well, when you're convinced you are already the best, why work to improve? If there are problems showing, then it must be a fundamental characteristic of life or the situation we find ourselves in (the 'we have a very heterogeneous society so other nation's solutions couldn't possibly work here' argument comes to mind), not that we could possibly need to improve. We're already the best!
>what's wrong with that exactly?
I think I can answer this.
The Puritan work ethic is great. Working hard actually does solve many, many problems.
So, why is there an issue? When it is assumed that working hard fixes all problems, then it is also assumed that if there are problems then the reason must be that someone didn't work hard enough to solve that problem. This causes people to dismiss problems as if they know the root cause when they really don't. This is a huge problem.
As for the 'best in the world, period' issue? Well, when you're convinced you are already the best, why work to improve? If there are problems showing, then it must be a fundamental characteristic of life or the situation we find ourselves in (the 'we have a very heterogeneous society so other nation's solutions couldn't possibly work here' argument comes to mind), not that we could possibly need to improve. We're already the best!
Resting on one's laurals. Never a good thing.