If I didn’t live in the United States, what would I think of the United States?

I ask this question, because as an American, I have pretty positive feelings about the United States, even though I could put together a list of its shortcomings that would at least be as long as its virtues. I think that if I lived elsewhere (but was knowledgeable about the U.S.), I could put together the same list of virtues and shortcomings, but that I might conclude something different. I think I might find I was pretty negative on the United States.

What about Great Britain? As an American, my education was not emotionally focused on the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812, both wars against England. They were important events that occurred, obviously, but I never had a teacher who told me I should hold a grudge against the Brits because of them.

Instead, I was told of the close connection (historical, cultural, ethnic, linguistic) between Americans and the English. So, I was taught to view the British positively (although I could list their faults, too), and I do.

But someone I know, neither American nor English, who has never lived in this country or the United Kingdom, and who is a student and teacher of modern European and Middle Eastern history, believes the British to be the worst of the worst, and the Americans not too far behind. He looks at the same facts that I do and, with different biases (he was brought up in former Yugoslavia and is now in Israel), comes to very different conclusions. And he feels no guilt about it.

And that, of course, brings up Israel. Again, I could list virtues and faults (although in the case of Israel, they would have to be in a larger font, all caps, bold, and maybe in bright red), and while remonstrating against Israel’s many faults today, I would come out (taking a long range look, at least) positive, as I am sure my Bosnian-Israeli friend would.

But if I weren’t Jewish, and I looked at the same facts, what would I conclude?

Naturally, I decided to go to my newfound hobby. I went to ChatGPT and asked it whether Israel was a good country. It did what it should do. It listed (first) a bunch of good things about Israel, and they were very, very good. And then it listed a bunch of negative things about Israel, and they were pretty bad. And then it said that one’s answer to my question depended on “what values you prioritize most,” giving a couple of conflicting examples. It did not say that if you were Israeli or Jewish, you would most likely be more positive towards Israel than if you lived in (to pick a place at random), say, Gaza. Should it have said this? If so, why? If not, why not?

I know I said nothing profound here, but I think that it’s important to remind ourselves that we make decisions based on who we are, just as others make decisions based on who they are. And that no matter how strongly we feel about an issue, we can’t convince someone with an opposing view to change their position by (perhaps subconsciously) trying to convince them to think like we do. They just can’t do that. And we can’t think like they do.