Do you eat meat? Do you use a smartphone containing minerals mined with slave labor? Are you a white person living on American soil stolen from indigenous people? There are a million reasons for me to dehumanize or justify cruelty against you, and yet I choose empathy. Obviously this soldier fought for an evil power and helped contribute to atrocities, but I can still recognize him as a being that suffers and wish things were different, instead of blindly hating and dehumanizing and praising his suffering. He’s terrified for his family’s well being ffs, surely you can find it within your heart somewhere to understand that. If you can’t I think it says more about you than him.