societal confidence
I'm sure having every mistake catalogued doesn't help. But I see a lot of this coming from the culture. In part by removing the literature of the past. We spend a lot of time worried that our reading lists are too European. We worry that our history courses celebrate our achievements too much or without being sure to tell students that the people doing this were bad in some way. We can't talk about industrialization -- a process that ultimately raised humanity to wealth, health and endless luxury on a scale unimaginable beforehand -- without being sure to mention the environmental devastation, or the wealth inequality, or something else.
China has the same Internet we have, and do a lot less self flag elation over their past misdeeds. They don't remove Chinese literature in favor of French or Indian literature. They don't talk about whatever Confucius did wrong. And it seems to give them the self confidence to do amazing things. The Chinese absolutely believe in progress, and that they can and should go for it. They could build a fully functional hospital in a week. They're building highways in Africa.