Wait. I’m too new to understand the second part of this. What are Tankies? What’s up with the .ml instance? Is the meanwhileongrad@sh.itjust.works like an observatory of .ml shenanigans?
Sorry, I’m honestly out of the loop
Edit: interesting responses. Thank you all for your input! :)
Tankies are people who play apologetics for authoritarian dictators who have claimed to be socialist or communist, and who will often excuse any action in opposition to “the west”.
More formally, they’re the cathartic branch of Marxist-Leninists (MLs). Lemmy’s a small space, and it’s a place that many MLs landed after bouncing off of Reddit, and the core developers count themselves as MLs.
The flagship Lemmy server is lemmy.ml, but the Tankie trolls have their own server, lemmygrad.ml where they go and be all 4chan-like.
It originated somewhere here on Lemmy, can’t find the original post, only a comment that references it: https://lemmy.zip/comment/10082020 (I know that this is not the original post/comment, because that commenter is on lemmy.zip, so they can’t upload media to lemmy.dbzer0.com’s pictrs instance)
I’m not saying this is a fact, or anything scientific (I’m sorry if it appeared that way), but I personally find it pretty accurate, and many people here agree
interesting i personally find it pretty inaccurate as is the case with all statements based on personal anecdote when you examine the material actions and political theory of your so-called tankies you can that your meme is just that
Some instances have their own political leanings that can affect content and moderation. The “Tankies” referred to in the previous post tend to be Russia/China supportive anti-capitalist posters. Not everyone on those instances leans that way (I don’t), but some instances don’t federate with those three, especially lemmygrad and hexbears, because of it. You can also individually block instances if you personally don’t want to see their stuff. On the whole, you probably don’t need to worry about it, but if it becomes annoying you have the option.
tankie is what lemmy libs call anyone to the left of them on foreign policy, ie supporting palestine = tankie and then they just make up shit to vaguepost about.
Interesting. I see your account is from .ml.
Any particular reason you created on that instance?
I literally picked the first one that was recommended and I’m still checking out how all of this works :)
I’m an anarchist, I like getting both sides of geopolitics news and they federate pretty broadly. After I got banned from reddit I landed on .ml because it could see all the major communist/anarchist instances and was first in line for updates as it’s being run by the developers of lemmy.
Hexbear has an active trans community + associated matrix groups so I’ve been spending more time there specifically since they defederated last month due to domain ownership issues.
Tankies are authoritarian communists, basically places like Russia and China can do no wrong in their eyes no matter how well supported said fact is. They don’t even recognize they nor NK are dictatorships. Basically if you say anything negative about those governments on .ml it’ll get removed and you possibly banned
.ml is part of the Triad of instances that they hide out in, the others hex and grad are much more on your face about it, but .ml is more subtle about it tending to just remove non-Tankie view points via mod/admin action and a lot of the official support comms are on there as well because the main devs are also Tankies.
I actually have to use this account to talk about them now to new users now because this accounts instance defed’s from them, otherwise they’ll just brigade posts and comments about them LMAO my main is @cm0002@lemmy.world
Reddit also has tankies, but there was just so many other users they kinda disappeared into the sea lol
The Chinese people trust their government and are able to directly shape it’s policy and directly elect their representatives
China does have elections, and for genuine representation, no lobbying or canvassing is allowed.
Following the precepts of democratic elections, “In accordance with the principles of universal suffrage, equal rights, multiple candidates, and secret ballot”, deputies to people’s congresses at the township and county levels are elected by the Chinese people.
These representatives, the deputies closest to the public, make up 94% of the national total, and are entrusted with electing the higher-level representatives. The deputies to people’s congresses at the level of townships and counties elect deputies to people’s congresses of cities; they, in turn, elect deputies at the provincial level, who elect deputies at the national level.
From these grassroots onward, in China, it is meritocracy all the way. Decades of practical experience, usually with increasingly large populations, ensures progressively greater competence, as candidates get the top jobs that require such capacity.
Communist Party of China […] in 2020, when the draft of its 14th Five-Year Plan (from 2021 to 2025) was submitted to public consultation online for the first time. The general public was able to participate in planning its own social and economic development, making more than a million suggestions from August 16 to 29, 2020, from which over 1,000 opinions and suggestions were incorporated.
For someone that is engaging in a logical fallacy of appealing to purity with regard to source, where is your source on the political structure of either country?
The substack has listed sources for the information cited, did you see that? They are historical studies and documentaries produced by third parties. I’m curious if you can even find a western-biased source that disputes the factual description of how China’s government is structured as described in the link.
Clearly the people of China trust their government and since you have yet to provide a source explaining how their government is organized we can only go with my source which clearly indicated that there is direct democracy
Edelman is a global communications firm that partners with businesses and organizations to evolve, promote and protect their brands and reputations.
Sounds like they don’t care about the truth, only making whatever their clients want to be “presentable”/accepted and how much they get paid for it.
Clearly the people of China trust their government and since you have yet to provide a source explaining how their government is organized we can only go with my source which clearly indicated that there is direct democracy
And you’re operating without understanding the historical reasons for it. For the Chinese people the CCP is leagues better than what came before. What came before the CCP was…quite bad. So from their POV and objectively, yes the CCP is pretty decent for the Chinese people as they would sacrifice things like freedom of speech because of the stability the CCP provides.
But what’s good for them does not automatically translate to good for the world, especially in countries where basic human rights have been somewhat enjoyed to varying degrees
Well yea, but one of the favored line of arguments is the “The CCP has a 95% approval rating!”, which is probably true, but there’s a good reason for it. And you know I don’t blame the Chinese people one bit, if all I and my parents had known was death and famine and an authoritarian government came in and brought stability and prosperity for the first time in generations, id look the other way on a ton of things too
Wait. I’m too new to understand the second part of this. What are Tankies? What’s up with the .ml instance? Is the meanwhileongrad@sh.itjust.works like an observatory of .ml shenanigans? Sorry, I’m honestly out of the loop
Edit: interesting responses. Thank you all for your input! :)
Tankies are people who play apologetics for authoritarian dictators who have claimed to be socialist or communist, and who will often excuse any action in opposition to “the west”.
More formally, they’re the cathartic branch of Marxist-Leninists (MLs). Lemmy’s a small space, and it’s a place that many MLs landed after bouncing off of Reddit, and the core developers count themselves as MLs.
The flagship Lemmy server is lemmy.ml, but the Tankie trolls have their own server, lemmygrad.ml where they go and be all 4chan-like.
There’s a diagram that illustrates this pretty well:
Yes, it was started as an observatory of lemmygrad.ml, but it’s also relevant to lemmy.ml and hexbear.net (the Tankie triad). There are also !tankiejerk@lemmy.world, which just focuses on all kinds of tankies from all instances, !fediverse_vs_disinfo@lemmy.dbzer0.com, which focuses on disinformation (again, from all instances) and !yepowertrippinbastards@lemmy.dbzer0.com, which focuses on moderator overreach (for all instances). It’s also the official, approved and recommended way of complaining about mod action here on lemmy.dbzer0.com.
what political theorist created this? or is it just a random meme sourced from a dream?
It originated somewhere here on Lemmy, can’t find the original post, only a comment that references it: https://lemmy.zip/comment/10082020 (I know that this is not the original post/comment, because that commenter is on lemmy.zip, so they can’t upload media to lemmy.dbzer0.com’s pictrs instance)
I’m not saying this is a fact, or anything scientific (I’m sorry if it appeared that way), but I personally find it pretty accurate, and many people here agree
interesting i personally find it pretty inaccurate as is the case with all statements based on personal anecdote when you examine the material actions and political theory of your so-called tankies you can that your meme is just that
No political theorist. It’s a meme based on horseshoe theory, which is discredited by academics.
Tankies are authoritarian leftists, basically soviet union style communists.
Also, you can link to communities with whats called “bang notation”: !meanwhileongrad@sh.itjust.works - this is like the r/ on reddit.
Some instances have their own political leanings that can affect content and moderation. The “Tankies” referred to in the previous post tend to be Russia/China supportive anti-capitalist posters. Not everyone on those instances leans that way (I don’t), but some instances don’t federate with those three, especially lemmygrad and hexbears, because of it. You can also individually block instances if you personally don’t want to see their stuff. On the whole, you probably don’t need to worry about it, but if it becomes annoying you have the option.
tankie is what lemmy libs call anyone to the left of them on foreign policy, ie supporting palestine = tankie and then they just make up shit to vaguepost about.
Interesting. I see your account is from .ml. Any particular reason you created on that instance? I literally picked the first one that was recommended and I’m still checking out how all of this works :)
I’m an anarchist, I like getting both sides of geopolitics news and they federate pretty broadly. After I got banned from reddit I landed on .ml because it could see all the major communist/anarchist instances and was first in line for updates as it’s being run by the developers of lemmy.
Hexbear has an active trans community + associated matrix groups so I’ve been spending more time there specifically since they defederated last month due to domain ownership issues.
Tankies are authoritarian communists, basically places like Russia and China can do no wrong in their eyes no matter how well supported said fact is. They don’t even recognize they nor NK are dictatorships. Basically if you say anything negative about those governments on .ml it’ll get removed and you possibly banned
.ml is part of the Triad of instances that they hide out in, the others hex and grad are much more on your face about it, but .ml is more subtle about it tending to just remove non-Tankie view points via mod/admin action and a lot of the official support comms are on there as well because the main devs are also Tankies.
I actually have to use this account to talk about them now to new users now because this accounts instance defed’s from them, otherwise they’ll just brigade posts and comments about them LMAO my main is @cm0002@lemmy.world
Reddit also has tankies, but there was just so many other users they kinda disappeared into the sea lol
Yea that’s what !meanwhileongrad@sh.itjust.works is, some of it is serious documentation work, some venting and a couple memes
Sorry to just dump this on you, but encountering a Tankie without warning is rather…jarring lmao
Thanks for all the info! This is super interesting!
try going outside more lmao
Since you are so knowledgeable about China and North Korea could you explain the structure of their government?
For anyone curious here are two short articles outlining the political structure:
China
North Korea
The Chinese people trust their government and are able to directly shape it’s policy and directly elect their representatives
Following the precepts of democratic elections, “In accordance with the principles of universal suffrage, equal rights, multiple candidates, and secret ballot”, deputies to people’s congresses at the township and county levels are elected by the Chinese people.
These representatives, the deputies closest to the public, make up 94% of the national total, and are entrusted with electing the higher-level representatives. The deputies to people’s congresses at the level of townships and counties elect deputies to people’s congresses of cities; they, in turn, elect deputies at the provincial level, who elect deputies at the national level.
From these grassroots onward, in China, it is meritocracy all the way. Decades of practical experience, usually with increasingly large populations, ensures progressively greater competence, as candidates get the top jobs that require such capacity.
And there we go, one link direct from the Chinese gov, I’m sure that can be absolutely trusted
And one link from a random substack, not like anyone can start a substack and write anything in it or anything LMAO
For someone that is engaging in a logical fallacy of appealing to purity with regard to source, where is your source on the political structure of either country?
The substack has listed sources for the information cited, did you see that? They are historical studies and documentaries produced by third parties. I’m curious if you can even find a western-biased source that disputes the factual description of how China’s government is structured as described in the link.
What about the Edelman Trust Barometer?
https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2025-01/2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report_01.23.25.pdf
https://www.edelman.com/about-us
Clearly the people of China trust their government and since you have yet to provide a source explaining how their government is organized we can only go with my source which clearly indicated that there is direct democracy
Sounds like they don’t care about the truth, only making whatever their clients want to be “presentable”/accepted and how much they get paid for it.
And you’re operating without understanding the historical reasons for it. For the Chinese people the CCP is leagues better than what came before. What came before the CCP was…quite bad. So from their POV and objectively, yes the CCP is pretty decent for the Chinese people as they would sacrifice things like freedom of speech because of the stability the CCP provides.
But what’s good for them does not automatically translate to good for the world, especially in countries where basic human rights have been somewhat enjoyed to varying degrees
“Better than what became before” is not the same as good. Just saying.
Well yea, but one of the favored line of arguments is the “The CCP has a 95% approval rating!”, which is probably true, but there’s a good reason for it. And you know I don’t blame the Chinese people one bit, if all I and my parents had known was death and famine and an authoritarian government came in and brought stability and prosperity for the first time in generations, id look the other way on a ton of things too