[scaramanga]

I think that there are a great many people who don't like realism when it interferes with their ability to enjoy sanctimoniously condemning the crimes of other states.

When their own state is the one attacking defenceless countries, the precepts of realism are their last line of defence to justify either their enthusiastic support, or their tacit consent.

When my country was destroying Libya, Iraq, and Afhanistan, I found that even those with no education in IR were able to spontaneously invent the precepts of realist theory without needing to read it in a textbook: the world is lawless and anarchic, Saddam is a baddy, if we don't stop him then nobody else will.

I try to be sympathetic to it though. When you've lived through enough of these wars (in the aggressor societies) you just get used to grimly observing how people react and I suppose it must build up a sense of righteous indignation and now here is a chance to safely vent it all without any consequences.