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.
Another fascinating question is why Netanjahu is receiving more hate in the West when they’re basically doing the same thing, only Putin has even less of a reason and is killing more people. (Ukrainians didn’t massacre Russian civilians or take them hostage, either)
It’s because the US is supporting Ukraine in fighting against Putin. In Israel, the US is supporting Netanyahu.
If we were funding Putin’s war, you would see a different reaction. There’s just less of a reason to complain if we’re already against Russia as a country.
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.
Expectations.
People don’t expect a country that’s supposed to be a close ally to do actual pure evil.
Russia has always been in a different category. It’s oscillated between being an outright enemy and being a distant, somewhat-ally the West is suspicious of. Either way, Putin was never someone you trust.
When someone betrays your expectations, you have a stronger emotional response.
When you feel like your country is actually helping with evil acts, that’s another layer of emotional response.
But if someone you feel like you can’t do anything about and has always been bad anyway is being evil, again… Well it’s a bit of a “no shit, Sherlock” moment. Doesn’t spark anger in quite the same way.
Because he’s playing trump and the USA so they take the heat, god knows if people hated Putin it would cause people to unite against him. As long as he keeps the USA divided on every ground, it’ll give him breathing room to conquer. First it’ll be Ukraine, then Moldova, then western Europe. And with the USA distracted it’s allies will fall. Because the muller report, and the public comments of Putin calling trump his friend aren’t telling enough that having trump as the president isn’t in Russia’s best interest. All we can hope for is that elons “department of efficiency” stops government waste and lethargy. (A small ask for such derisive people)
Putin has singlehandedly caused more death and suffering than anyone else.
And your proof of this is… what?
I almost never see the kind of hateful, nasty, and mean comments directed at him
Because Putin is not a product of the US. Trump is, and, to a large extent, so is Musk.
Yeah as bad as he is, Putin isn’t event the worst Russian dictator if we’re going by body count. Stalin is still miles ahead.
Putin is a scumbag, but he still has a long way to go to even beat George Bush Jnr, and he doesn’t even scratch the paint on Henry Kissinger’s record levels of crimes perpetrated against humanity.
Paraphrasing someone relevant: That’s just percentages.
Stalin is dead
And your proof of this is… what?
The war in Ukraine has so far caused around 300k deaths. I can’t think of a person alive who’d be responsible for more deaths than that.
The (so-called) “War On Terror” unleashed by George Bush has caused about 900,000 dead. That is just the death DIRECTLY caused by warfare and not the far, far greater number of people dead through indirect causes such as starvation and disease as a result.
Or does it only count in your book when the people dying “look like us”?
Or does it only count in your book when the people dying “look like us”?
No that totally counts. Why do you need to imply I have some racist agenda here?
Why do you need to imply I have some racist agenda here?
This you?
Putin has singlehandedly caused more death and suffering than anyone else.
Yeah I couldn’t think of a person responsible for more deaths than him untill you brought up George Bush. You made a fair point and I changed my mind. What’s racist about that? I don’t get where this hostility is coming from.
Can’t say for sure, but my theory is that people sorta accept that Putin is a hated person. Most people in Western countries - or rather people not in Russia - hate the guy, therefore people don’t necessarily feel the need to elaborate on their dislike of him. Whereas people like Trump, after all, he got voted in so clearly some people must like the guy. Therefore people push back harder against him to convice others to do the same.
kim and trump get plenty but since they have been pretty impotent all around they don’t get as much play. Its about who seems to be inclined to do harm and has the most potential to.
The majority of people hate Putin, just like anything else you will find people justifying terrible stuffs. Putin is a war criminal and caused a ton of suffering but Israel caused more death and suffering than Russia
Israel caused more death and suffering than Russia
Irrelevant and not true.
As of 5 November 2024, over 45,000 people (43,391 Palestinian[1] and 1,706 Israeli)[19] have been reported killed in the Israel–Hamas war
Russia’s military casualties, the officials said, are approaching 300,000. The number includes as many as 120,000 deaths and 170,000 to 180,000 injured troops. The Russian numbers dwarf the Ukrainian figures, which the officials put at close to 70,000 killed and 100,000 to 120,000 wounded.
And that doesn’t even include civilians.
Agree that it’s irrelevant here, but conservative estimates put the number of dead in Gaza at 200k+. It’s definitely not just 45k for a few reasons.
Because Americans are stupid and easy to play
I utterly reject your premise
You’d accidentally fall out a 10th floor window.
After accidentally shooting yourself twice in the back of your head.
Wait That’s Boeing but we don’t that around heren
Also the window was a fixed pane window.
That happens all the time, it’s always purely an accident, trust me bro.
Putin killed away all critics early?
It kinda depends on on distance. I live in a country with a long shared border with Russia. Putin, putinists, Ukraine and whatthefuckcanwedoaboutit are regular and well researched debate in here.
In here American politics/elections are not in daily discussions but they surely are a thing to follow/be aware.
So here on Fediverse it is what most active users see and do. It’s pretty American (and German). Far away from the war and Putin.
To be fair. In my experience I see much more hate directed towards Trump and Elon here in Finland too. Putin is rarely the subject of discussion among my friends.
to some extent I think https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything-except-the-outgroup/ may be a factor
Thank you, this is the link I was looking for
Pretty sure that’s because of what kind of communities you’re following (or not following). He absolutly get’s that level of hate. Arguable even more as people regularly want him dead and mean it.
I follow plenty of news communities as well as Ukraine and NoCredibleDefence communities but I still rarely see comments like that. Not never but it seems way disproportionate compared to what I see of these right-wing political figures.
Here. This is just one I happened to read 5 minutes before stumbling upon your post and going like “wtf is this guy smoking?” Because, yeah… Go to any post about the invasion and you’ll find putin hate comments. Hell, even on trump related stuff you’ll find plenty of trump+putin hate comments.
I think you’re just dealing with some confirmation bias enforced by the fact that there’s been a ton more trump+elon news lately than Ukraine war stuff.
Oh, if you’re only talking about lemmy then totally. Lemmy is extremly biased. There is serveral big instances where criticising Putin will literally get you banned. And a lot of the bigger communites have tanky or tanky-leaning mods, too.
Also NoCredibleDefence is a rather lighthearted meme community, not a lot of hateful people there.
These sorts of things can fade into the background over time.
Pretty sure you are measuring using the wrong indicators.
There is little reason to talk shit of Putin as he is so hated, just as no reason to discuss water being wet.
Don’t start “whataboutism”. Those other people suck too. No reason to rank them.
There is little reason to talk shit of Putin as he is so hated, just as no reason to discuss water being wet.
Wouldn’t the same be true about Elon and Trump though, especially when talking about Lemmy.
That’s Whataboutism.
Putin probably gets plenty of hate on Russian language social media. English language social media is going to be full of criticism of English language influencers.
There’s a huge contingent, even here, who loves both those guys, but maybe more importantly, they’re supposed to be on our side. Hell, Trump is the president! Putin is the dictatorial ruler of an enemy country, we expect that he’s going to do and say stuff that’s terrible.
