I guess we just disagree on what we consider to be oppressive. The term “tankie” was invented by UK leftists to criticize other leftists for their support of the USSR’s use of tanks to suppress the Hungarian Revolution and later in the Prague Spring as well. Therefore, any communists that defend the use of oppressive tactics are tankies, it’s really not that hard, and it’s not anti-leftist.
I don’t know what to say about how you haven’t seen it yourself, since it’s prevalent in essentially every online leftist space. Maybe you choose not to see what you don’t want to?
Because “tankie” didn’t come from a Western imperialist state
The term “tankie” was invented by UK leftists to criticize other leftists for their support of the USSR’s use of tanks to suppress the Hungarian Revolution and later in the Prague Spring as well
If you believe that the UK isn’t a Western imperialist state, I’ve got a bridge I’d like to see if you’re interested in buying
Okay, fair and good definition but I really don’t think whatever .ml-vibed post or narrative that gains any traction, to the point of it being an integral part of the community’s ideology, upholds those tankie values. And, therefore, the reputation is unearned. And they may exist but I don’t interact much with those people because I’m a lil banned so I guess I don’t see all of their content, idk.
And, circling back to OP’s case, I think the downvotes are a reaction to the narrative that “.ml is tankie” when they’re just anti-Western (like most of the world but that’s a different convo, they’re just anti-Western in Western online spaces), discarding the whole comment instead of “taking a side” because that would just give more weight to the narrative.
But they’re just… Not only anti-western. They are specifically pro-authoritarian and label anyone who criticizes that point of view as a “liberal” (even if that label makes no sense except in their own personal special definition). And then in other posts, the very same people call for the eventual violent removal of liberals. It doesn’t take a genius to see one thing is connected to the other.
I guess we just disagree on what we consider to be oppressive. The term “tankie” was invented by UK leftists to criticize other leftists for their support of the USSR’s use of tanks to suppress the Hungarian Revolution and later in the Prague Spring as well. Therefore, any communists that defend the use of oppressive tactics are tankies, it’s really not that hard, and it’s not anti-leftist.
I don’t know what to say about how you haven’t seen it yourself, since it’s prevalent in essentially every online leftist space. Maybe you choose not to see what you don’t want to?
If you believe that the UK isn’t a Western imperialist state, I’ve got a bridge I’d like to see if you’re interested in buying
I do, but “the UK” didn’t come up with that. Leftist living in the UK did. So that’s kind of irrelevant
Okay, fair and good definition but I really don’t think whatever .ml-vibed post or narrative that gains any traction, to the point of it being an integral part of the community’s ideology, upholds those tankie values. And, therefore, the reputation is unearned. And they may exist but I don’t interact much with those people because I’m a lil banned so I guess I don’t see all of their content, idk.
And, circling back to OP’s case, I think the downvotes are a reaction to the narrative that “.ml is tankie” when they’re just anti-Western (like most of the world but that’s a different convo, they’re just anti-Western in Western online spaces), discarding the whole comment instead of “taking a side” because that would just give more weight to the narrative.
But they’re just… Not only anti-western. They are specifically pro-authoritarian and label anyone who criticizes that point of view as a “liberal” (even if that label makes no sense except in their own personal special definition). And then in other posts, the very same people call for the eventual violent removal of liberals. It doesn’t take a genius to see one thing is connected to the other.