chapotraphouse

They're not evil Eastern people, though.

There are orientalist elements but the Easterlings and Haradrim are not anymore evil than anyone else. Literally the most powerful, noble, specially God-blessed race of the most Western Men did the same thing and followed Sauron only to build shrines to Morgoth and invade Aman, the land of the Gods. Arguably far more evil shit can be attributed to Numenoreans and their descendants than Easterlings or Haradrim.

As /u/stillhauntingeurope mentioned in that thread, Easterlings and Haradrim initially allied themselves with Sauron because of their experiences of colonization at the hands of the 'Men of the West'.

People go on about the "men of the West" thing without looking deeper. It is explicit in the text that the Numenoreans corrupted themselves by their practice of colonialism and all the evils that come with it.

And then I've seen people decry the portrayal of Easterners as evil or savages or whatever, but again, they're ignoring the text when they do so. Even without Sam's thoughts on the dead Haradrim, it's fairly explicit they serve Sauron not due to some innate evil, but because of their history with the Numenoreans (who would demand tribute, attack, and enslave them) and Sauron manipulating and outright coercing them.