It's a normal human reaction to want to believe the best about those in power, and it’s easy to understand why someone would hope that The Leader is honest, competent, wise, and caring even if our more rational sides should know better. The point isn’t that the “good tsar” theory is positive (it isn’t) or that we should go easy on those who espouse it (we shouldn’t) but that it very obviously isn’t some unique manifestation of Russian inferiority and primitiveness. Instead it’s an unfortunate and incredibly common failure of imagination to which we are all susceptible.
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