It is part of an ideological challenge to the legitimacy of the policies and regimes of other nations, mixed with a measure of self-congratulatory exceptionalism.
People who believe in human exceptionalism might argue that it is a form of anthropomorphism to ascribe "any" human experience to animals, including pleasure.
As indigenous peoples explore their respective cultural heritages, their seeking to be separately classified or newly-understood may be a form of exceptionalism.
Exceptionalism can represent an error analogous to historicism in assuming that only peculiarities are relevant to analysis, while overlooking meaningful comparisons.