Globalization risks blurring cultural distinctions away. Among cultures we're aware of on the world stage, Iceland punches above their weight class—they have only one member for every thousand Americans. I have to think their success is due to specific measures to retain their identity. Even Canada which has a tenth the population of the US has laws mandating that 1/3 of what's broadcast on the radio must be Canadian.
Also the island is kind of trying to kill whoever lives on it.
Exactly right imo. It's frustrating to see people treat these few surviving cultures as if they are the only ones worth preserving, as if all the others are a waste of time. I think this results in a lot of resentment.
I think you mistake my point: Iceland's culture _is_ perpetually endangered, more than most. These steps appear necessary for them, they appear to work, and even 100x larger countries whose cultures would survive anyway do some amount of the same.
Iceland is it's own island. How could a culture be any less endangered than that? Every culture is at least as inherently endangered as Iceland's.