It's pretty constant on hn. People paint everything from country X, holistically, with some broad and blunt moral brush.

It reads like a cartoon. Everything from China is loaded with secret spyware snooping on you for countless unspecified evils - everything out of Russia by anyone is part of some secret global propaganda network.

I point it out as absurd and reductive whenever I see it and people dogpile on me like I desecrated a sacred cow.

The world is incredibly complex and a simple label doesn't cut it. Wernher von Braun was a Nazi but that doesn't mean his work on rocketry was fictional lies.

You need to assess things based on the merits of the thing, not on any narratives of attributive associations you're choosing to assign.

Yes but in this case, the dude in question was uncritically parroting Russian propaganda - as do most people on RT, since that's its purpose.

>everything out of Russia by anyone is part of some secret global propaganda network.

Who has claimed all Russians are part of a large propaganda network. This is about a government news network.

State media in fascist dictatorships don't reflect the diversity of their people. It is untrue that humans of any nationality have free speech and a free press as a check against their government's actions. It is untrue that any country's government is legally obligated to transparency that is required in a democracy.

When people say that Russian and Chinese state media are propaganda, it is not always because they are racists. Many people say this because they make a distinction between a government and the people, and understand the difference democracy makes.

It's great that you're trying to emphasize with people in other countries. Empathize deeper and think through how it must be like to live in such a political environment to their full conclusions.

Sometimes focusing on each of the individual puppets distracts you from who is pulling the strings.

Why use a non-example to mention it though?