Ian Mug
We should never let the antagonism of our own and another country’s government against each other make us hate or distrust the citizens of that country.
The US has a sordid history of relations with Russia, China and many others, and every time things begin to heat up, the government tries to bring us down to dislike the innocent citizens of the other side, and vice versa in the countries that the US considers its rivals.
How has the average Chinese citizen harmed you in any way? What has any Russian, outside the governmental structure, done to disrupt your life? The answer is not a thing.
As we move into an age of geopolitical antagonism, we must remember that the actions of a country’s government does not necessarily reflect the actions of a country’s citizens.
A taxi driver in Moscow did not order or participate in hacking attempts on the US. A farmer in Sichuan did not make aggressive moves in the South China Sea.
Like I mentioned earlier it goes the same for American citizens.
The average American didn’t vote to go to war on Iraq, or try to refuse entrance to anybody coming from there. So why do we assume that citizens from countries that act in an aggressive way towards the US are somehow different? In the end what most people want is to live their lives and be comfortable, and if they can’t be comfortable at the very least survive.
ESU is an international community with people hailing from all over the world. Never at any moment should we consider looking at someone with suspicion or disdain for their national origin. We must look at the content of their individual character in order to know them.
It is fine to condemn the actions of a government, but we should never automatically condemn somebody just because they live under that government.
Do not let the leaders around the world try and pit us against each other. If we want to see the other side of this era in history, we must try to be willing to get along and attempt to understand.