How much karma do you need on HN to downvote? Because this deserves one.
How often are we going to repeat this point?
Okay, as slowly and clearly as I can:
"Two wrongs don't make a right."
Just because the US does bad thing X, doesn't mean we can't talk about another country doing bad thing X.
Please, for the love of baby Jesus and his family. Please. Please.
I won't even top it off with a "the country's people are not the same as its government," or anything like it. I just beg of you, please, please stop using this line of reasoning.
I'm so exhausted of seeing it. It wears me down.
PS: GP has a point, he sketches the context. Fine. "Russia is not the only one, also US." Okay, it's true. But when you say "don't talk about Russia, because US!" then no. No, no, no, no. No.
EDIT: Can't reply to "rational-future", so I'll say it here: No, not at all. The opposite. As I said: "GP has a point". My problem is here:
> Furthermore, people should be concerned with their own country's criminality, not hypocritically pointing the finger at official enemies like Russia.
This is wrong. Telling people to shut up because their government / countrymen / ... does the same thing. Sure, call them out for being hypocrites. But even hypocrites have a right to speak. So, yeah: do talk about the US. Sure. Give me context. As long as you leave all the room for the original discussion.
I feel like you completely missed the point of his comment. Probably purposefully.
To answer your question, just because something is "wrong" doesn't mean something can't be more "wrong". Just because I jaywalked yesteday doesn't mean I'm on the same level as a meth dealer, for example.
Life isn't black and white, it's shades of grey. Something can be much darker than another thing. And it's OK to point that out. As is the case here. The U.S media certainly isn't up to snuff, but the situation in Russia and other state-owned news agenicies are absolutely horrible by comparison. There may be poverty in the U.S but that doesn't mean it's on the same level as in a country like Ethiopia.
As much as the Russian defenders want to equate the two, they are NOT comparable.
How often are we going to repeat this point?
Okay, as slowly and clearly as I can:
"Two wrongs don't make a right."
Just because the US does bad thing X, doesn't mean we can't talk about another country doing bad thing X.
Please, for the love of baby Jesus and his family. Please. Please.
I won't even top it off with a "the country's people are not the same as its government," or anything like it. I just beg of you, please, please stop using this line of reasoning.
I'm so exhausted of seeing it. It wears me down.
PS: GP has a point, he sketches the context. Fine. "Russia is not the only one, also US." Okay, it's true. But when you say "don't talk about Russia, because US!" then no. No, no, no, no. No.
EDIT: Can't reply to "rational-future", so I'll say it here: No, not at all. The opposite. As I said: "GP has a point". My problem is here:
> Furthermore, people should be concerned with their own country's criminality, not hypocritically pointing the finger at official enemies like Russia.
This is wrong. Telling people to shut up because their government / countrymen / ... does the same thing. Sure, call them out for being hypocrites. But even hypocrites have a right to speak. So, yeah: do talk about the US. Sure. Give me context. As long as you leave all the room for the original discussion.