MeanwhileOnGrad
"Oh, this is calamity! Calamity! Oh no, he's on the floor!"
Welcome to MoG!
Meanwhile On Grad
Documenting hate speech, conspiracy theories, apologia/revisionism, and general tankie behaviour across the fediverse. Memes are welcome!
What is a Tankie?
Alternatively, a detailed blog post about Tankies.
(caution of biased source)
Basic Rules:
Sh.itjust.works Instance rules apply! If you are from other instances, please be mindful of the rules. — Basically, don't be a dick.
Hate-Speech — You should be familiar with this one already; practically all instances have the same rules on hate speech.
Apologia — (Using the Modern terminology for Apologia) No Defending, Denying, Justifying, Bolstering, or Differentiating authoritarian acts or endeavours, whether be a Pro-CCP viewpoint, Stalinism, Islamic Terrorism or any variation of Tankie Ideology.
Revisionism — No downplaying or denying atrocities past and present. Calling Tankies shills, foreign/federal agents, or bots also falls under this rule. Extremists exist. They are real. Do not call them shills or fake users as it handwaves their extremism.
Tankies can explain their views but may be criticised or attacked for them. Any slight infraction on the rules above will immediately earn a warning and possibly a ban.
Off-topic Discussion — Do not discuss unrelated topics to the point of derailing the thread. Stay focused on the direct content of the post as opposed to arguing.
You'll be warned if you're violating the instance and community rules. Continuing poor behaviour after being warned will result in a ban or removal of your comments. Bans typically only last 24 hours, but each subsequent infraction will double the amount. Depending on the content, the ban time may be increased. You may request an unban at any time.
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That's because it makes no sense as an insult.
Essentially just boils down to: "You care about other people you evil scumbag. Not like me, I'm a patriot, I've got mine, screw everyone else."
And then they claim you've been "owned", which they have to tell you, because otherwise it isn't apparent.
Leftists sometimes use it as an insult because liberals are still capitalists or because liberals in the U.S. have an ineffective "reach across the aisle, " "civility politics" reputation. I've mostly heard it from tankies (who are not leftists, IMO) or from leftist using it in more of a tounge-in-cheek manner though.
I've learned that liberal has a very different meaning if it comes from tankies, communists or non-americans than it does if if it comes from a Republican, and my knowledge of world politics is honestly too limited to fully understand why that is and if it's for different reasons for each of the above groups
But I agree with the person you're replying to, everyone I've encountered who uses "liberals" as an insult has not been a terribly pleasant person to interact with.
Not a tankie but a leftist. Liberalism enshrines private property rights and free markets as tenets of freedom. From a leftist perspective, it's equivalent to stating that the only way to end gun violence is more guns. It's not just wrong to state, it's antithetical to the goal.
It's not being used like conservatives use it (any one left of me politically) but in its more traditional sense, the foundation of the US and countries who followed that model (most "developed" countries)
Yeah you nailed it, leftists use the term "liberal" in its classic context, as you have described. Tankies tend to use it as a pejorative while other leftists usually use it descriptively, and are more likely to use "neoliberal" pejoratively instead. This does depend on which community you're browsing though.
Just want to note that Marx said the working class must be armed, and there are many leftists who agree. Gun control is not a left position, it is an authoritarian one. Important distinction imo.
To a U.S. conservative: librul = commy = bad.
To a tankie: librul = conservative with extra steps = bad.
That's the short and sweet of it.