That's being slightly pedantic, because everyone understands "the west" to refer to Europe and the anglophone world. Australia and New Zealand aren't in the western hemisphere, but they're still part of "the west."

Conversely, there's no unified "the east." That could mean very different things between China, Russia, India, SEA, or western-aligned Japan/Taiwan/South Korea. There's no unified concept called "the east," at least in terms of geopolitics.

Part of the reason for this difference is the history of the 16th-20th centuries, but we all know those details.

That doesn't make your criticism of tankies any less valid, but the focus should be a bit different to make it more bulletproof (not that a bulletproof argument ever stopped a tankie from digging their heels in).

You're right that the west isn't solely responsible for all the atrocities in the world. Some, yes. Many, even. Possibly even most if we're only counting from the colonial era forward. But tankies only focus on the atrocities the west committed, and sweep everyone else's atrocities under the rug. That's where they err.

That's why they lick russian and chinese boots when they're just as guilty or even more from the 20th century forward. But tankies will never acknowledge the authoritarianism, capitalistic exploitation, and ethnocentrism prevalent in those nations' governments, or others like Iran's. Anything that's "anti-west" to them gets put on this pedestal where they can do no wrong in the tankie worldview.

And yeah, they're impossible to argue with because they don't care about facts or logic. If you're not unquestioningly subservient to their particular flavor of ideology, you might as well be a fascist in their view. It discredits not only leftism as a whole, but also anyone who points out actual fascism, because the term has already been watered down by tankie's overuse of it.

They're authoritarian extremists and wannabe militants, plain and simple. I've told them they're no better than fascists and then they go into the difference between the political polarities, as if that makes a difference, and accuse me of not knowing what I'm talking about.

I had one try to tell me over and over that yellow-green is actually orange, in a metaphor where orange represented fascism and green represented leftism (presumably in all its shades).

I think it's both... They're the "useful idiots" and bots of someone else's machinations...
My theory is it's a liberal plot to keep liberals from considering communism.

They're more like a cult.

I strongly believe that (of course they've sucked a couple of unbalanced real people in as well)

It's an analogy about the same problem. By providing content in a space where they're posting, we're helping to spread tankie bullshit.

It's the same reason the middle east is trying to buy up all the sports and esports, to help sanewash their bullshit.

Hmmm, I might have to keep searching then. I don't like censorship, even if it had good intentions. Blocking other viewpoints and creating an echo chamber is something tankies do.

As I understand it: left leaning (usually extreme left) users who idolise the Chinese government. Tankie is a reference to the Tienanmen Square protests and massacre, and specifically to the “tank man”. I’m not sure how that got associated with pro-CPR users though, as the protests were very much against that government.

Edit: check out the replies to my reply for a different and likely more correct explanation.

Dessalines is the one who made Lemmy. Jean-Jacques Dessalines was a genocidal maniac. Modern tankies like him because some of the targets of his genocide were slave owners.

Edit: manuallybreathing@lemmy.ml sent me a DM calling me a fascist for liking Rush lmfao

Provisioning decent living standards (DLS) for 8.5 billion people would require only 30% of current global resource and energy use, leaving a substantial surplus for additional consumption, public luxury, scientific advancement, and other social investments.

Right, but I have seen massive arguments on Lemmy over this topic. The argument you made is actually well thought out and makes sense, while the one I mentioned is stupid and doesn't withstand even the smallest amount of basic thought.

My main question is: what makes you think they aren't already doing that?

I believe the term “tankie” comes from the idea that they believe the guys in the tanks at Tiananmen Square were in the right.

From the Wiki:

The term "tankie" was originally used by dissident Marxist–Leninists to describe members of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) who followed the party line of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Specifically, it was used to distinguish party members who spoke out in defence of the Soviet use of tanks to suppress the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the 1968 Prague Spring

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie

The term "tankie" was originally used by dissident Marxist–Leninists to describe members of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) who followed the party line of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Specifically, it was used to distinguish party members who spoke out in defence of the Soviet use of tanks to suppress the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the 1968 Prague Spring, or who more broadly adhered to pro-Soviet positions.[6][7] The term has extended to describe people who endorse, defend, or deny the actions of communist leaders such as Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. In recent times, the term has been used across the political spectrum and in a geopolitical context to accuse individuals of having a bias in favour of anti-Western states, authoritarian states, or states with a socialist legacy; Belarus, Cuba, China,[8][9] Iran,[10] Nicaragua, Ba'athist Syria, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela serve as prevalent examples.

The tanks they supported & were named after were not Tiananmen Square, but actually 30 years earlier when the USSR crushed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

Jesus Christ i hallucinated