... there are other things in here that I feel are a lot more important, and worthy of legitimate sense of pride...

And "My Little Pony" represents this how? Regardless, I'm interested in hearing your opinion if you'd like to share it.

If this is the message you took away from my previous reply to you, you really need to brush up on your reading comprehension.

However, to answer your question.

Compared to most other countries in the world, Finland has a small pay gap between high and low earners and excellent social services including practically free socialised health-care. We have world-class primary and secondary, and very good, free tertiary educational system, and a great deal of social mobility.

It's not perfect, far from it, but many things are a lot better here than in many other places in the world. Even if the worst happens - unemployment, illness, whatever - you won't die for the want of a meal or the unavailability of medical care, and because of that safety net I don't begrudge my tax euros.

Things like having the most metal bands per capita, or winning the ice hockey WC or being the nation that produced Linus Thorvalds, or whatever, are a whole different kettle of fish.

They are nice things, to be sure, and amusing, and they certainly have to do with both the cultural and the social environment in here, but they still are things that for the most part come down to individuals, and are something that one can really neither take credit for as a member of the same nation, nor consider as some kind of great achievement for that nation.