One thing I've always thought It's strange, in certain cases, how the people of a country are judged and discriminated against because of what their crazy leaders decide to do. For example, when a leader of a country decides to attack another, and thus, automatically, all the people of that country are labeled as aggressors, monsters, bad people because their leader decided to cause a war. I think we should always be cautious with generalizations; they are dangerous in this sense, because even if one country declares war on another, there may be people there who disagree.
I can use the case of Germany; we all know they had a leader who committed the greatest atrocities possible, but nowadays, does that mean that everyone there agrees with or becomes something similar to that leader? No! I believe not, that people born there even feel ashamed of their country's past, and this applies to any other country that wages war and everything else. I think a normal person, a citizen who lives there, cannot be held responsible for what their leaders do in this way.
Here in Brazil, the country where I live, we have governments that spend years demonstrating their corruption, missteps, support for dictatorships, stealing from their own people with taxes that increase every year, and they certainly are not good examples to follow. But if outside the country they label us all as like that, they are wrong, because there are many good people in Brazil, fair people who strive to improve every day, to do what is right. So this prejudice against citizens because of their leaders becomes wrong again, without justification, after all, not every leader or president represents everyone correctly.
I believe we have to draw our own conclusions, so we can't just judge people and say they are the same as their leaders. That's absurd, especially since leaders are elected by vote (at least in several countries where this right still exists). So, yes, a majority may sympathize with them, but not everyone. That would be unbelievable; there will always be someone who agrees and who... Disagreeing with a president, a governor, or even the mayor of a city is healthy for a democracy.
A good example I can give is the case of the Hive, where we have people from various parts of the world. So, imagine if I focused on the nuances and researched each of these people's countries? If I simply decided to avoid and even mistreat people living in countries whose presidents support things I don't? I think that's a great form of discrimination, of prejudice; that is, you create a concept even before meeting the person and seeing what they have to offer you.
Therefore, a top representative of a country or some other important position does not always represent everyone in a country. Even if that person makes mistakes and bad decisions, citizens cannot be held responsible for them. I think it's crazy to believe that a person who leads a country will always know what's best for everyone and that everyone in the country should be held responsible for those decisions. As mentioned, generalizing is a huge mistake we make, and we must be careful with every opinion or concept we form about people.
