that's pretty consistent all the way through

Empathy is pragmatic. Empathizing with victims is not pragmatic. No, those are not consistent, I'm sorry you are so blinded by this us vs them framing.

I didn't say we shouldn't have empathy for victims, I said it's not helpful

While saying that empathy for perpetrators is.

empathy for perpetrators doesn't mean excusing their actions and letting them go

But rather than recognize that imperialist troops made a choice to literally become the enemy, willingly placing themselves on the opposite side of the class conflict from the working class and those of us who fight for it, we should give them a pass because free college is so tempting, and it's cruel and not pragmatic or something to keep child murderers out of our orgs. Also purges are bad. Yeah, ok.

it means understanding that they are still humans and not just acting as if they aren't victims of the system that corrupted them.

Everyone who responded to you about how ridiculous you were being fully understands that they are human and it is incredibly bad faith of you to pretend otherwise. As for the second part, let's take out the double negative there so what you are saying can be parsed:
"they are not just acting as if they aren't victims of the system that corrupted them" -> "they are just acting as if they are victims of the system that corrupted them" Ok, yes, I tend to agree, they often do just act as if they are victims of the system. If what you're trying to say is that it is their material circumstances, the system they exist within, that led them to being imperialist troops, I would say that yes, material circumstances are ultimately responsible for the shaping of social factions. But that does not preclude anyone from having any responsibility for their individual choices and actions. Once again, the logical conclusion to that argument is that as communists we should not denigrate or hold anything against cops, presidents, capitalists, or any mass murderers since they are simply the product of their circumstances.

things can be objectively good but also not result in material change.

You're really reaching to try to salvage something from this dumpster fire of a position, aren't you?

this isn't a hard concept to understand.

It's really not, which is why it's so disconcerting (but also a little funny) to watch you flail about, trying to make any part of what you said earlier fit some sort of tortured material analysis.

having empathy for those that cause harm allows you to see what systemic effects led them so far astray and correct it for the future.

I am not against empathizing with the enemy, and I never said otherwise. But no, it is not necessary to empathize with them to see any of the systemic issues that play a role in producing people like them, nor is it necessary to empathize with them to correct for it in the future.

I'm sorry you are so blinded by this us vs them framing.

I'm sorry you think that the very basic Marxist concept of class conflict is "us vs them framing." lol

yeah, I've often critiqued Lenin's vanguardism for leading to tribalism, purity spirals, and horseshoes back to reactionary sentiments. it's necessary, but needs regulated somehow. believe it or not, these guys aren't demigods and are capable of missing here and there. further developing their already great ideas is objectively a good thing, orthodoxy purity is useless and counter productive. also, by "removing people" I mean executing or imprisoning. I'm a fan of reeducation camps or exile, personally.

None of this relates to your premise that purging people in positions of power is somehow wrong and means "you've already lost" to put it your words. Re-education is not purging, it is a rehabilitative measure, which would definitely have not worked in the historical conditions of the early to mid-20th century USSR. They were literally fighting an existential war against Nazis and Tsarists ffs. You can't "re-educate" someone who is actively trying to kill you. There are certainly criticisms to be made in the excesses of Stalin's purges, but to completely ignore these historical conditions that necessitated the purges is pure idealism on your part.

I personally think many American government officials and all billionaires are also incapable of being re-educated because they have proven time and time again that they will stop at nothing to protect their class interests and countries like China and Vietnam punish billionaires the proper way, but you do you.

wow it's almost like nothing is black and white and there's nuance in everything, even when it's inconvenient! people are not predestined at birth but they also are not given infinite options with the foresight to choose wisely. think a little, I'm begging you.

Again, this has nothing to do with defending the military apparatus of the imperialist state that is the USA, which you are doing by (falsely) claiming the stormtroopers are poor, oppressed workers who are just trying to get a decent income and education. I'm just curious if you would make the same argument for the IDF or the Wehrmacht which had many working-class individuals in it thinking they were doing no wrong.

I wouldn't consider your average soldier to be a war criminal but whatever guy,

If the average US soldier is actively involved in the current Iran War or any previous war/ invasion the US has engaged in, yes, they are war criminals.

You're never gonna convince me that the people who killed hundreds of Iranian schoolchildren on the first day of the war are somehow innocent victims of the system. Please get some perspective.

although it doesn't invalidate my points that systemic roots need to be addressed before any real change can be seen.

That only became your point after your previous arguments were shown to have no bearing on reality, and it's also a point no one here would argue with. We all agree that systemic roots need to be addressed. We don't all agree that troops should be given a free pass for being child murderers just because they selfishly saw a way to get free college out of it. We don't all agree that troops deserve more empathy than their victims. We don't all agree that class traitors and counterrevolutionary wreckers should be coddled instead of purged. You can't make all these absurd, reactionary statements and then just say your only points are "that systemic roots need to be addressed." Wildly disingenuous.