I've witnessed a phenomenon many times in my life, where people look at another country and call out something utopian or dystopian about it, and totally miss that whatever they're noticing is also true about their own country.

I say country, but this happens in nearly any in-group/out-group dynamic.

It's far beyond "greener grass" wistfulness. It's a heightened awareness of the other -- from the posture of the presumptive moral arbiter -- accompanied by a diminished awareness of the self.