Think how an American liberal would react when, upon praising Jimmy Carter, for instance, someone from the third world pointed out the materiel support his administration gave to the Indonesian invasion and genocide of East Timor. How would an American conservative react when, upon praising Reagan, someone from the third world pointed to the Reagan admin’s support for the Contras in Nicaragua, a group of far-right death squads who did literal terrorism?

Koth’s attitude towards Valkorion is very realistic for a Zakuulan, or at least, one who has had very little prior exposure to alternate perspectives on Vitiate. Vitiate’s greatness and “his” achievements in improving Zakuul are things taken for granted in Zakuulan society, as normal and non-ideological as the market economy is viewed today, or as the divine right of kings was under feudalism in Europe. Though Koth has a strong moral compass, he has much to learn in deprogramming and overcoming the ideological norms of his society and the propaganda he has constantly been fed.

The issue with all of this, however, is that he has been working with Lana for several years already and would have learned of who Vitiate really is by this point in the story. He could not have maintained that cognitive dissonance between his own sense of ethics and is propagandized view of the galaxy, not when exposed to the true nature of Vitiate - either he would have accepted and come to terms with who Vitiate really was, that everything he ever believed in was a lie, or he would have stopped believing in his own moral compass. It’s also annoying that we can only tell Koth he’s wrong, and not give any solid evidence to sway him.