I think your friend probably grew up with a mother or father who were overly polite and taught to never say anything critical of people if you cannot say something good. Much of weak-spined America today were no doubt raised with this go-along-to-get-along upbringing.
That’s what I get whenever some Islamist blows up or kills a bunch of people. I get this “well there are some good Muslims” - I always come back with “where? who? what good things have they done” and then I get “well they can’t report everything in the news” .... yech ....I guess just like “well not all Nazi’s are bad”