Small circles, and tribalism, that is the nature of the human experience. The difference can be as simple as how diverse your circle is.
I was fortunate enough to have jobs where people from the whole world were part of the office, where people of different sexual orientations were able to be fairly open, and women were treated as equals. It wasnt utopia, Im sure there were still problems, but the focus and drive was to equality and tolerance.
Because I was in that environment, its pretty hard to ignore that people are just people the world over, most are decent and helpful and kind, a small proportion are assholes; but there isnt any specific nation, or race that have a higher proportion of assholes.

I think people who cant understand that have a circle that looks exactly like they do, and diversity is threateneing. I do remember a documentary about a racist white English guy who actually spent some time with some members of a UK mosque. After some time, he made friends, his attitudes changed.