Even with everything that’s going on, I still don’t really care about someone’s beliefs or political views. It’s definitely harder these days for sure, but i still try. I’d much rather talk things out and understand someone before I decide to just hate them. The problem is that they are fucking rude and trying to start arguments all the damn time. It’s literally just the trolls that show up.
Hey dude I hate everything you do But I’m trying really hard to not hate you Hating you won’t make you suck any less
— AJJ, “Kokopelli Face Tattoo”
Tankies are right wing
The officially recognized definition of a Tankie is one who is a strong supporter of communism. Which, I think we all agree is considered a “left” wing ideal.
It’s also strongly authoritarian, but it’s solidly in the authoritarian left. So people calling others “Tankies” are, in theory, more right-wing than the people they’re insulting. It’s a left-punching insult.
Usually these people are strong supporters of China and the old Soviet Union and are staunch critics of ‘imperialist’ nations such as Britain and the USA.
One, there isn’t some governing body for the term “Tankie”.
Second, the definition of Tankie means supporting China and Russia (TODAY RUSSIA) only because of their authoritarian policies, regardless if it is anywhere adjacent to actual communism or not.
For example, many Tankies will support any action Russia takes (which we’ve seen with Ukraine) if it opposes “the west”. And no one can argue that modern Russia is even kind of communistic.
One, there isn’t some governing body for the term “Tankie”.
It’s called a dictionary. And even though there are many of them, they agree on the definition. Words mean things. Kinda cool how that works.
That is not how language works
I’m pretty sure between an anarchist and a tankie there should be no question who leans further left and it ain’t the tankie
I mean, it really depends on the qualities that you utilize to define “leftism”. The real delineation between the two is their organizational hierarchy and tolerance of authority. Not exactly sure how that is used to determine who’s more of a leftist.
organizational hierarchy and tolerance of authority
Yeah, the communist dictatorships where the government controlled everything and dictated all of everybody’s environment down from the national level are pretty light on organizational hierarchy and authoritarianism.
I now think of Tankies as being Alt-Left, just as modern conservatives are Alt-Right. Both are extremists, both are okay to use violent upheaval of society to get their way, both routinely ignore actual facts in favor or alternative ones (bOtH sIdEs SaMe), both are nearly incapable of having any kind of normal conversation without dragging politics into it (just look at any “meme” or “comics” community, especially just after Luigi), both have next to if not fully zero consideration for the other part in any conversation, both use nearly identical methods like “control the conversation” and “gish gallop” and “the card says moops” (from Innuendo Studios’ The Alt Right Playbook series, but I notice that the tactics at least apply equally well to the Alt-Left) and so on.
Once you see it… you can’t really unsee those similarities. But they aren’t quite exactly the same, bc while they both shill for Russia, they use different talking points. So… there’s that, for whatever that might be worth (very little imho).
Alt left wants to violently overthrow the tyrants preventing us from having viable public services and having a fair society.
Alt right wants an ethnostate.
Alt right spends hundreds of millions a year astroturfing social media to convince people that authoritarianism isn’t an inherently right wing ideology.
