alt Hacker NewsAverage comments sentiment when an American is caught having killed a clerk during a robbery: hope they fry him on the chair
Average comments sentiment when an American is caught while bombing bridges and elementary schools: poor thing hope they treat him well
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The military propaganda in the US is so strong that it doesn't matter how many innocent lives US soldiers take, even the staunchest US liberals will thank the troops because "just following orders" or "poverty draft".
I'm sure many Japanese watching the Pearl Harbor movie didn't want the American pilots to survive after nuking 2 cities either.
The key difference (which I am sure you are aware of) is that the victims in your second scenario are foreign brown people. The comments would be very much like your first scenario if this was about Russians attacking even military targets in Ukraine for example.
Many people are very detached from the suffering of others