Every Nation is Fictional

Because Everything-is-a-Story, the states and nations we live in are no different. Theg are founded on myths of what a certain people are that may not correlate to the real world.

Every nation-state is ninety percent fictional; there’s always a gap between the imaginary countries united by cultural coherence and collective destinies where most of us believe we live, and the actual countries where we’re born and eat breakfast and file taxes and die. The U.K. is unique among modern states in that we not only buy our own hype, we also sell it overseas at a markup -Tea, Biscuits, and Empire: The Long Con of Britishness- Laurie Penny (emphasis mine)