> The grass is always greener on the other side ... until you actually dare to find out.

Yes this is the core problem.

The grass used to be very green in the "first world" (North America and Western Europe) but it is now getting dangerously yellow.

Instead of asking themselves the hard question why the grass is getting yellow the people in charge try to prove it is fine by bringing cows (it is an image here) from the "the third world", and say look the grass is not getting yellow because those cows like it.

This is why you usually see the collapse of the rose-colored glasses effect in third generation of immigrants.

So yes the grass can still been seen as relatively green in Germany, but I have regularly traveled there for decades and I can tell you as an external observer the country looks like it is going to hell over time.

You get a similar effect with westerners going to East Asia. A lot of them like it very much there wearing rose-colored glasses and can't figure out why the locals believe the future is dark for them.

Uh, I think you’re misunderstanding.

3rd gen immigrants aren’t impressed because they literally have no idea what it is like to live back in the ‘old country’.

Go back (to actually live there) and often those 3rd gen immigrants will definitely have a different perspective than they used too.

‘Native’s’ in 1st world countries often just don’t really understand the reality of the situation, and are the ones with the rose colored glasses.

Or do you think someone complaining about, say, the UK, will legitimately find things easier in India?

Because I’ve lived in Both; and nah dog.

The bigger issue here IMO is the fraying social contract and exposure to narcissistic manipulation due to social media and the ‘algorithm’.

It’s ragebaiting everyone about everything.

Combined with the bill ‘coming due’ for a lot of debt fueled overspending, and population collapse, of course.