I’m not sure I’ve seen any evidence of it existing though, is it just a Boogeyman, or so something that happened a while back? An in joke of some sort?

  • mim@lemmy.sdf.org
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    Just check out any news article outside Lemmy.world on the Ukrainian war or China.

    It always gets flooded by accounts from lemmygrad and hexbear doing mental gymnastics and whataboutism to justify whatever Russia or China are doing.

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      You’ll also find them around and about in any sort of historical sub

      Most of the tankies I’ve encountered have been in the comments of historymemes communities on posts about the fall of the Berlin Wall. Go in expecting Regan jokes, come out after having a 30 comment argument with someone trying to claim that the Holodomor didn’t happen (like, at all, not that it wasn’t intentional), that Stalin never condoned the Purges, and the Stasi weren’t that bad

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        I’ve had a tankie acuse me of being libelous against North Korea by mentioning their human rights abuses.

        When I presented links to the UN’s reports on the subject, they just got stuck in a loop asking for sources for my claims.

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          Oh yeah they do that - I once brought up the cultural aspect of genocide in a discussion about Russification and was instantly told that I only cared about that definition of genocide so that I could accuse China of genociding Uygurs and any attempt to point out that no that has been the definition of genocide for a long time (see - the UN’s various declarations) was met with them demanding me I show them the proof that China was really doing that.

          …in an argument about the Baltics in the cold war.

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          I was told yesterday that North Korea was in the shape it is because of UN sanctions against workers there. LOL.

          And while I can absolutely admit that the West has been problematic especially the United States in these contexts. That North Korea has done plenty to make their situation and what it is all on their own.

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        They defend Stalin and Mao to death. Deny all negative historical events. Tianamen square didn’t happen etc. It’s pretty wild.

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      The hexbear users are especially annoying as it seems to be a requirement for them that they embed the most annoying jpegs/gifs into their propaganda comments.

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        I’ve always leaned left, and not in the “American Democrat” way. I’ve read Marx, Engels, Kropotkin, Luxemburg, etc. Not that I agree with them on everything, but they make good points.

        But every day I see tankies defend Russia just because it’s not the US, I feel like I’m moving more center just out of spite.

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          Political movement out of spite is perfect thanks for that.

          I generally agree with the goals of a more communist society, but the inability of hexbear or lemmygrad users to consider any kind of incremental progress, and the inability to recognize any single solitary good thing to happen in a capitalist country is so annoying.

          How can I be interested in an ideology when every member is frothing at the mouth angry at anything that isn’t classical party-speak?

          • mim@lemmy.sdf.org
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            Russia is not even pretending to be communist anymore. It’s a full blown corrupt capitalist oligarchy. But just because it’s not an US ally, they will defend it.

        • wahming@monyet.cc
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          Yeah it’s amazing how tone deaf some of them can be, and they don’t even realise when they’re doing the opposite of promoting their views

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      Russia didn’t invade but if it did, Ukraine deserved it.

      America been doing this for decades!

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        I guess tankies are now making accounts in other instances so that they don’t get blocked.

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          I’m pretty sure they’re being sarcastic, “(terrible thing) didn’t happen but happen but if it did (whatever group) deserved it” is a joke I see a lot about genocide deniers and their (lack of) logic

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            Normally I’d agree with you, but I’ve read enough posts from Lemmy tankies that I cannot be sure anymore.

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        What kind of dialectical brainrot is this? America doing something terrible doesn’t mean Ukraine deserves to suffer the same from russia. Weirdo

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            I honestly can’t tell if that post is meant to be sarcasm.

            Because I’ve seen similar posts and that the poster really believed in it. And that’s part of what’s plaguing lemmy. Unironic whataboutism.

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              BTW dude your username is annoying. You comment a lot and every time I see it I get hungry

              Edit: it’s weird and interesting how many downvotes this comment is getting for a simple in-joke

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        I feel like the Narcissist’s prayer ends too quickly. What if someone, perhaps Ukraine, didn’t deserve it? Isn’t there an excuse for that? Like “It’s not my fault you looked like you had a Nazi problem” but more generic? Hey, perhaps one could add “It’s not my fault” at the end to allow for recursion.

        • Intralexical@lemmy.world
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          ..No. That’s a good place to end it. “You deserved it” is the only line that’s honest about what they believe. They just go through the rest first because it’s an easier sell.

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    Lemmy.world defederated from those instances. When I switched to a different instance I started to notice it. There are a lot of them, you just don’t see them.

    • Kalash@feddit.ch
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      Lemmy.world defederated from those instances.

      From which ones? Because they are still federated with lemmygrad.ml, which is by far the biggest tankie instance.

  • AbsolutelyNotCats@lemdro.id
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    They’re blocked in your instance, just like piracy related communities.

    That’s why i left LW, I want to decide which communities I block

    • Black_Gulaman@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      Believe me, it’s tiring to block things over and over, because lemmy has the tendency to have duplicate communities every instance.

      I too tried instances with zero unfederated lists. Now I just live in an instance with minimal unfederated list.

    • coaxil@lemmy.world
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      What made you select lemdro.id ? If I may ask, I’m wanting to get off lemmy.world also, but seem to be getting stuck in waiting for approval hell from the couple instances I signed up with.

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      Me too. I found unilem who’s policy is explicitly not to defederate from any instance. I prefer to be treated like an adult and allowed to decide for myself who I block.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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    I’ve seen one or two posts that had communist Nazi vibes. I just blocked the users posting them and haven’t had a problem since.

    The big name instances that generate these boogyman claims are blocked on Lemmy World. They’re not blocked on my instance, but they also aren’t really any different than any other posts from any other instances. The most cited reason isn’t the content they post, but the fact the creator of the instance (in this case I am referring to Lemmygrad) is a tankie. Well they don’t seem to post a helluva lot for it to matter, and the average users there aren’t crazy assholes in my experience.

    The Hexbear stuff, on the other hand… Every single user I’ve seen from that instance behaved like a 4chan troll or T_D user.

  • gelberhut@lemdro.id
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    Lemmy is founded and developed by two communists and anti-US persons as a commy friendly alternative of Reddit. They also admin two (?) Lemmy instances.

    I assume that after people from Reddit migrated it becomes more balanced. But still, reading news and comments in “technology” communities I feel like I read “anti-corporporate”, not technology topics.

      • gelberhut@lemdro.id
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        Well, I was talking about technology communities, not Foss.

        And even for foss, it can and should be pro Foss, and not anti-corpiration - this is much more productive and inspiring. Like Lemmy itself must be busy with its own things instead of fixating on hating Reddit.

        Just IMHO.

        • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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          Have you considered that corporations have done a lot of the legwork on their own to get people to hate them? A lot of people mistakenly treat corporations like some sort of necessary evil. They aren’t necessary.

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            If they are not nessesary just do not use their service. Suv is not a nessesary type of car - just buy another one.

            Anyway, my point was creating/discussions good things is better that focusing on hating thinks you do not like.

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              That is not remotely a cogent comparison. Do you understand the difference between unavoidable and necessary? Falling on to rocks from a decent height, getting impaled is unavoidable. But it isn’t necessary.

              Likewise, being born into a hell hole that destroyed it’s cities and communities by prioritizing accommodations for cars over people. Cars are unavoidable, not necessary.

              Capitalism is exploitative and unavoidable currently. Especially if you have resources a capitalist wants. Even if you mind your own business, they will come in. Attack you and rob you just to get what they want.

              The timeline of human history dwarfs the timeline of capitalism and corporations. We’ve gotten by for most of human history without capitalism and corporations. An indoctrinated capitalists like yourself would argue however that capitalism and corporations gave us industry and a lot of the things we currently enjoy. To which I would immediately deflate your balloon by pointing out that Russia and other countries that weren’t capitalist also industrialized at the same time. Keep in mind none of this is praise of Lenin his ideology or any of the countries that claimed to follow it. Simply pointing out the willful ignorance and lack of education on the part of capitalist fan boys.

    • Intralexical@lemmy.world
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      Yes. Protecting tankies is explicitly part of the original purpose of Lemmy. It’s almost like the anti-Parler/Gab/Voat, in that it was made by left-wing people as a haven for political views that would be too radical to be tolerated on the mainstream platforms:

      Leftists know that our position on these platforms is tenuous at best; we’re currently tolerated, but that will not always be the case.

      …Naturally, this meant that it ended up attracting people who unironically identify as “leftist” while cheerleading the genocidal imperialist war led by the right-leaning conservative United Russia Party of the RF, or the also-rather-genocidal ethnocratic state capitalism of the PRC.

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    Looking at your account, you’re on a instance that is defederated with the worst offenders

    Make a lemmy.ml account and pop into any thread that talks about Ukraine and you won’t be confused anymore lol

    Personally, I don’t mind one bit that they’re communist, but their trollish behavior and their tendency to act like China and Russia (and I’ve even seen a few for North Korea) are bastions of individual liberty, prosperity, and justice with no faults makes them exactly as annoying as the super nationalist western folks who act the same about the US or Europe (depending usually purely on where they’re from).

    Basically it’s not a communist problem, it’s a troll problem where the trolls all happen to be communist

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    I’ve just been blocking instances. I realized after the fact that I signed up with lemmy.ml, which contributes to it, but was the only instance that was quickly approving people when I signed up. It may be time to switch instances, or finally get off my ass and make my own.

    I don’t mind some of the ideas, but seeing people constantly sucking off Russia and China gets old in a hurry.

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      Saw a comment from a dude calling everyone on .ml Nazis earlier today and was like wtf??? Looked at his comment history, pro Russia tanky calling any NATO/pro NATO country Nazis/Nazi lovers. Some people are just crazy deluded. Ukraine is full of Nazis cuz it was taken by Germany in WW2 AND EVERYONE KNOWS ITS STILL ALL NAZIS.

      • angstylittlecatboy@reddthat.com
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        .ml is literally run by Marxist-Leninists??? (Same people as Lemmygrad, but .ml is a general instance rather than one dedicated to leftism)

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    Some of them stick to posting mostly anti-west sentiment outside their home tanky friendly instances, but if you get in the right comment section. Oh man do they get wild. Crazy pro China propoganda. Lots of Russian support cuz the west is evil.

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    It’s mostly Hexbear, and they know they are annoying. The politics on Lemmy is… wildly different from what a regular social media looks like.

    • grue@lemmy.ml
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      wildly different from what a regular social media looks like.

      It’s wildly different from what social media moderated by corporations looks like, but I’m not so sure which is “regular.”

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        It looks wildly different than what social interactions with any people I know in real life.

        It’s a super small percentage of the population that is wildly over represented in lemmy.

        It’s definitely not “regular” outside of Russia and China.

  • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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    I haven’t seen tankie content, but it’s not like I actively search for it.

    I do see a lot of whining about tankie content, mostly from people who post bigoted shit.

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    Diehard democrats finding out they’re not as leftist as they thought they were. Anything that runs counter to their narrative is “tankie”. They’re afraid of what is different and it’s their version of calling everything they don’t understand/like “woke”.

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      Ahh, yes. The “Stalin did nothing wrong” posts are possessing of nuance worthy of discussion and aren’t trashy troll takes at all

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        I’ve been brigaded by tankies on a Ukraine thread. Anyone that argues Russia is justified and everything evil is the West is seriously warped or a massive troll. You aren’t looking very hard if you haven’t seen it.