this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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MeanwhileOnGrad
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Meanwhile On Grad
Documenting hate speech, conspiracy theories, apologia/revisionism, and general tankie behaviour across the fediverse. Memes are welcome!
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They’re not tankies. They’re just stupid fucks.
They most definitely are tankies. That is their cardinal trait.
No. They’re really not. Tankies are Marxist. These people are Vatnik and 50 cent party types. Specifically, “Tankie” was used to distinguish party members who spoke out in defense of the Soviet use of tanks to crush the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the 1968 Prague Spring uprising. The USSR has been replaced by a hyper capitalist right wing failed empire. It’s simply not accurate to call them tankies, and in doing so you’re doing them a service. It fails to bring attention to their hypocrisy, their lack of consistency, and all out lack of discernible values. This isn’t semantics. It’s basic history, and it’s only helping them to use shitty internet lingo with alternative meme definitions instead of being accurate. These people have no ideology. Marxists would never support the current state of Russia. They’re worse than tankies.
Your distinction is entirely pointless, because this has been the main critique of tankies since the term originated. Tankies are precisely not marxists, they are "tankies", ie. in favour of authoritarianism over all else.
And it is mainly just pure chance that they settled on pretending to be marxists because they could easily just have become fascists (which a non-surprising amount of them later actually become).
What derogatory term should we use then?
I actually addressed that.
What's the difference?
Tankies have an actual ideology. These people are just anti western pro Russian and pro China stooges. Zero ideology. China and Russia aren’t the same countries that existed when the term tankie was coined.
The term tankies has lost all meaning. And if it still had meaning it wouldn’t apply people who support Russia (or China).
Specifically, it was used to distinguish party members who spoke out in defense of the Soviet use of tanks to crush the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
They support new Russia. A right wing hyper capitalist empire. They’re not Marxist. They are just assholes.
If anything they’re Vatnik and 50 cent party ops. But mostly edgy confused western kids that simply contrarian. Calling the tankies gives them too much credit. And really waters down the term further.
You are completely wrong. Tankies have never been that. It has always meant people who favour authoritarianism above all else. It means precisely the same as it always have, and yes tankies then and now would very much support Russia, because tankies have never cared about their own proclaimed ideology except for authoritarianism.
Your comments reads like apologetics for the term "tankie", as if you want it reserved for some kind of positive use, which is just completely bizarre, not to mention very suspect.
Yada yada tankies
Boring.
Are you actually going to add any examples of hatred or bigotry from tankies and authoritarians or are you just going to complain about the mean words?