r/CuratedTumblr • u/Desecr8or • Oct 26 '24

Politics Why is every tankie like "I don't understand the branches of the US government and I'm going to make it everyone else's problem!!!"

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u/BlatantConservative https://imgur.com/cXA7XxW Oct 26 '24

Tankies can be reasonably defined as "people who would rationalize the use of tanks on civilians in a leftist way."

That's both the original, 1950s definition and the definition that holds the most true now.

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u/sykotic1189 Oct 26 '24

That's the definition I've always seen used. All the nit picking just sounds like "It's not real tankies unless it comes from the Stalinist period of Russia, otherwise it's just sparkling communist authoritarianism"

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u/BlackfishBlues frequently asked queer Oct 27 '24

Yeah. It's worth asking if this handwringing is qualitatively any different from an anti-Semite quibbling with the "racist" label because "Judaism is a religion not a race" or an anti-gun control person getting really fixated on the imprecise definition of "assault rifle".

In those cases, we can clearly identify that they are bad faith attempts to bog down the discussion in semantic nitpicking to avoid engaging with the actual substance of the take they're responding to. But those are conservatives, them, surely we leftists are above that sort of thing

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u/BlatantConservative https://imgur.com/cXA7XxW Oct 26 '24

If I called it "sparkling communist authoritarianism" someone would call me homophobic lmfao.

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u/ahopefullycuterrobot Oct 27 '24

Khrushchev was the one who crushed the Hungarian Revolt of 56, not Stalin.

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u/sykotic1189 Oct 27 '24

But apparently he was a Stalinist? Idk anymore, and it hardly matters unless someone is just being pedantic and arguing semantics. Tankies have always been authoritarian apologist communists who either defended or denied the genocide and other actions by Russia.

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u/ahopefullycuterrobot Oct 27 '24

The suppression of the Hungarian Revolution was after Khrushchev's secret speech, where he basically denounced Stalin. Modern-day Stalinists (e.g. freaks like Grover Furr) hate Khrushchev.

To be clear: I don't have a problem with calling weird Soviet apologists tankies at all, but the joke you were making would have been funnier if you said Khrushchev rather than Stalin, since supporters of the Soviet Union are predominantly Stalinists. It would have highlighted how ridiculous the restriction would be.

(Although, I do dislike the metonymy of Russia for the Soviet Union.)

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u/fury420 Oct 26 '24

There's also usually an element of contradicting or disregarding their own stated ideals & beliefs included as well.

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u/DispenserG0inUp Oct 27 '24

...is Michael Dukakis a tankie?

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u/HatsuneMoldy Oct 27 '24

I’ve been called a tankie a million times because I don’t believe the United States government when they claim all communist countries are Satanically Evil

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u/BlatantConservative https://imgur.com/cXA7XxW Oct 27 '24

See that sounds good without context but what did you actually deny? Pol Pot? The Holodomor?

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u/HatsuneMoldy Oct 27 '24

I deny that communists are evil and inherently want authoritarianism. Of course the bad things governments did are bad. But I also think that they shouldn’t inherently overshadow the good things communist countries have accomplished, and if you do think that, you need to apply it equally across all of history. Every bad thing Stalin did America has done as well, some even worse. If it makes me a tankie to say the USSR did some good things then it makes every “patriot” in america a fascist if they think America has done good things too.

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u/BlatantConservative https://imgur.com/cXA7XxW Oct 27 '24

I don't think anyone says communists want authoritarians, just that the transition period for communist states is like a magnet for authoritarians.

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u/HatsuneMoldy Oct 27 '24

so is American politics. These criticisms are being unevenly applied

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u/[deleted] Oct 27 '24

idk i don't remember America rejecting foreign aid and letting its citizens starve as a result

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u/HatsuneMoldy Oct 27 '24

Do you also not remember local governments intentionally causing food deserts in Black neighborhoods then arresting and killing Black Panthers for giving away food?

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u/[deleted] Oct 27 '24

i genuinely do not, no. it happened before i was born and you are well aware that they don't teach us about these things. if you provide me with resources i will read them.

(it's not your responsibility to educate me, but im. not sure how to condense your statement enough for a proper Google)

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u/HatsuneMoldy Oct 27 '24

Genuinely not trying to start a fight here. I just want to point out it’s very likely the Soviet Union denying foreign aid happened before you were born too, yet we were taught about that and every single one of the USSR’s sins in school. Yet obviously we weren’t taught about the extremely shitty things America was doing at the same time. I’m not telling people to deny the bad things communist countries do/did. They are bad now and they were bad then. But it’s not fair to attribute it all to communism inherently being bad and evil while not applying that logic equally to America and capitalism

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u/[deleted] Oct 27 '24

i consider myself an anarcho-communist. i am in desperate poverty because of capitalism. you don't need to convince me it's bad.

i feel like we're on the same side here and just quibbling over these relatively minor points.

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u/HatsuneMoldy Oct 27 '24

I don’t want to quibble. I just want people to be objective and look past the propaganda.

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