• admiralteal@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    That’s not what the word means. At all.

    It’s about being on the side of the tanks – specifically the Tienanmen Square tanks. It is literally the opposite of wanting to use tanks to overthrow the government.

    I understand how you’re using it. I’m just warning you that you are very much going your own way with this word and are going to look foolish if you do so.

    • MapleEngineer@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      From Wikipedia:

      Tankie has its origins in British political rhetoric. It has since become a popular pejorative in English-language social media.[22] In 2017, left-wing writer Carl Beijer argued that there are two distinct uses of the term tankie. The original, which was “exemplified in the sending of tanks into Hungary to crush resistance to Soviet communism”. More generally, a tankie is someone who tends to support “militant opposition to capitalism”, and a more modern online variation, which means “something like ‘a self-proclaimed communist who indulges in conspiracy theories and whose rhetoric is largely performative.’”

      • admiralteal@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Yes, that’s what I said. The tanks are operated by authoritarians AGAINST the rebels. They are not tanks operated by rebels. Tankies will bend any logic to defend and support authoritarian governments so long as they present anti-capitalist.

        It is all about authoritarianism. If you call an anarchist a “tankie”, you’re going to look like you’re being totally disingenuous.

          • admiralteal@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Look dude, you seem like you can’t handle any form of criticism or evolution in your understanding of things, so keep doing it exactly how you want and don’t listen to anyone else in this thread or elsewhere trying to help you be a better communicator. Have fun being you.