Don’t Blame People for Their Governments

When Vladimir Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine, the rest of the world watched in horror. An outpouring of support for the Ukrainian people has been felt worldwide. And sanctions, from banking to Netflix, have been imposed on the Russian people by the western world. However sanctions have a poor track record for accomplishing anything useful, while at the same time punishing innocent people who are impacted most economically. But the most troubling reaction to Putin’s invasion has been a tendency to demonize all things Russian, as if every citizen of Russia is supportive of the actions of their dictator president.

Would you want to be held responsible for everything your government does? Do you want the international community to judge you by the actions of Joe Biden or Donald Trump? Imagine the outrage if foreign governments started deporting American students or refused to trade with our businesses.

Instead, we should direct our anger where it belongs, toward the political leaders who aggress against their neighbors and exploit the crisis for their own gain. Otherwise we risk sinking into an ugly and fearful prejudice that history seldom looks kindly on.