Even the most "woke" well-intentioned American writers tend to emphasize, and therefore exaggerate, cultural differences. That makes people/places interesting to read about, much more than "they are just like us" would.
But "they are different" isn’t too far from "they aren't really people like we are" and (looks around at the results of this).
This is the kind of thing people respond to with some version of, "well duh," and of course it's the answer most people would give intellectually, but it's difficult for all of us to unlearn things that are deeply imprinted. I mean, even French people are portrayed as unknowable exotics, usually.