I’d argue it’s an objectively true statement that, of all the people alive today, Putin has singlehandedly caused more death and suffering than anyone else. The gap between him and whoever is second is likely orders of magnitude. Yet, when I read discussions about him, Russia, or the war in Ukraine, I almost never see the kind of hateful, nasty, and mean comments directed at him that I regularly see aimed at Trump, Elon, or even ordinary Republican politicians. Why is that?
Bonus question: Why be so nasty about it in the first place? There’s nothing wrong with criticism, but I struggle to understand the need for such meanness. Even when I agree with the sentiment, reading comments like that feels toxic. It poisons my mind too. I don’t like being angry, and I avoid it for practical reasons as well. Anger clouds my judgment, and I think it does the same for others and thus should be avoided.
Recency bias. Also anti-semitism. I don’t mean that in the sense that any criticism of Israel is necessarily or logically anti-semitic. I mean it in the historical sense. Any time Western societies starts hating on Jews, we really, really need to reflect hard on why.
I know, we all think we are objective enough to separate the Jewish identity from the Israeli identity, but I’m not so sure. Jews are definitely not so sure. It would be interesting to see a study on the correlation between having general anti-semitic views and having negative opinions about Israel.