Why Have We Gotten Bad at Recognizing Bad Guys?
It's not like bad guys have gotten subtle
It’s strange that some people can’t figure out who the bad guy is in the Russia/Ukraine war. For starters, I thought that “Russia = bad” was nestled deep in every American brain; for years, the three groups that could be blasted to hell with no repercussions in movies and video games were zombies, aliens, and Russians.1 But more importantly, Putin’s invasion was so egregious that it was almost refreshing; in a world of complex conflicts, it was kind of nice to see a war that made you think “Well, obviously you can’t do that.”
What’s doubly strange is that this is the second time recently that some Americans haven’t been able to recognize evil when it’s practically grinding its pelvis in their faces. The number of people who took Hamas’ side in the Israel/Hamas conflict was shocking. Of course, practically no-one would admit to “taking Hamas’ side”, just as Trump claims that he’s “on the world’s side” — what a hippie! — as he does literally everything that Putin could ever want him to do. I don’t want to over-simplify these conflicts, Ukraine and Israel both have profound flaws, and I don’t want to be the asshole who accuses anyone who disagrees with him of being “on the enemy’s side”. But on the other hand: Come the fuck on. Some people are clearly Team Russia or Team Hamas, and I think an interesting question is: why?