People need a simple good guy vs bad guy story. Putin is the bad guy so the US/West must be the good guy. If you start talking about how the good guy is also a

People need a simple good guy vs bad guy story. Putin is the bad guy so the US/West must be the good guy. If you start talking about how the good guy is also a bad guy who illegally invades countries and commits coups with impunity then that breaks the narrative. Atrocity Propaganda (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocity_propaganda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocity_propaganda) is extremely effective. >Atrocity propaganda is the spreading of information about the crimes committed by an enemy, which can be factual, but often includes or features deliberate fabrications or exaggerations. >"So great are the psychological resistances to war in modern nations", wrote Harold Lasswell, "that every war must appear to be a war of defense against a menacing, murderous aggressor. There must be no ambiguity about who the public is to hate."