this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025
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Ok, that needs a little explaination
Cowbee already answered your question but I'd like to point out that as a German you really need to be careful about what propaganda you believe about the Soviet Union and Stalin. Keep in mind that Germans killed 26 million soviet citizens less than a hundred years ago.
Painting Communists and fascists as equal evils originated as a form of Holocaust trivialization called "Double Genocide Theory." The goal was to make the Nazis seem not as bad by painting the Soviets as just another evil, regardless of material reality. The reality is that Communists have historically been an overall quite positive force compared to liberalism and fascism. I recommend reading Blackshirts and Reds to see an honest comparison and critique that highlights just how wrong equating fascism with Communism is.
First of all: I didnt set them equal. I just said I wouldnt chose either. If you are offering me two meals: A deadly vial of arsenic and some garbage out of your trash, i wouldnt chose too.
And furthermore: Tankie (as far as I understand this word) doesnt mean communist. And the communists I know, dont want to be seen like this.
So please try not to mention the shoah thoughtlessly in such discussions. Because this would definitly mean a trivialization.
Equal or similar in awfulness, neither is accurate to reality, and again, has roots in the aforementioned method of Holocaust trivialization called Double Genocide Theory.
“Tankie” is a caricature. The idea of a tankie is the ideal vision of a McCarthyian Communist. In reality, the overwhelming majority of people labeled as such don’t actually fit that label, it’s more of a way to cast an image of someone’s positions based on, say, support for AES countries, and twist that into the evil Commie Pinko that haunts the dreams of 1960s children in the US.
No Communist wants to be seen as this caricature, they'd rather be seen as the Marxists they are, but those who use the term "Tankie" as though it has any meaning contribute to the demonization of Communists.
Ok another try:
If I get offered 2 options, and both options are bad for me, I wouldn't choose either. By this, I dont rank their "badness", I just tell that those options are not suitable for me. Not more not less.
Like arsenic and trash. They are both not suitable for me. But I dont rank them. I just say " no".
I my bubble the term tankie means somethin like a neo-sowjet, who thinks that the SU was heaven on earth. Not a communist. To be honest, I havent invested any real effort in researching this. But I just quotet the word, theyre not my words.
And once again Please try not to mention the shoah thoughtlessly in such discussions. Because this would definitly mean a trivialization.
Okay another try.
“Tankie” is a caricature. The idea of a tankie is the ideal vision of a McCarthyian Communist. In reality, the overwhelming majority of people labeled as such don’t actually fit that label, it’s more of a way to cast an image of someone’s positions based on, say, support for AES countries, and twist that into the evil Commie Pinko that haunts the dreams of 1960s children in the US.
No Communist wants to be seen as this caricature, they'd rather be seen as the Marxists they are, but those who use the term "Tankie" as though it has any meaning contribute to the demonization of Communists.
Additionally, nobody thinks the USSR was heaven on Earth, but real Socialism with real victories and real struggles. There are no "tankies" in any actual number worth considering if that's your definition.
I explained 1. Why painting the Communists and fascists in a similar light serves fascists wishing to trivialize genocide and 2. Why "tankie" doesn't mean anything except to serve as a pejorative for Marxist.
The "goalposts" never shifted.
Honestly the only difference between the quibbling you do with language and those blue maga weirdos on world is that you rep a different politics.
Again you're twisting yourself up in a knot to try to fit reality into the neat little prejudice you decided is correct. If it turns out to be wrong, rather than change your view, you try another prejudice to see if that one fits.
Or maybe ya'll just mod off the word everyone calls you based on how you think and act online, for me it's asshole, for you it's tankies. Ya'll just hate the label but don't realize how much everyone has you clocked because of the small, highly censored, walled garden. ML is a tankie zoo.
Yes, it's Lemmy.ml that is the walled garden despite being more broadly federated than Lemmy.world, who intentionally defederated from the explicitly Marxist instances.
Rather than trying to insult me, can you meaningfully explain why you disagree with me? Their comment suggested that Communists are in any way comparible in evil to the fascists that invented industrial mass murder, to the point that they wouldn't side with them against the fascists. I then went on to explain how I feel that the word "tankie" is just a pejorative used to dismiss Marxists, rather than getting a genuine response I just got further description of the caricature of a tankie.
So you can't meaningfully explain or refuse to, gotcha. Then what's the point?
Lmao, did I get you so bad with that last one you quit for the day to prove me wrong? You are replying to a modded comment, proves my point internally, which is all I need.
No, I slept and saw your comment in the morning, it isn't that deep.
I don't remember any of that at all, mind linking it? What facts did I deny? The USSR was dissolved intentionally, not really as a result of inherent issues with Socialism, that's true at least.
Edit: oh, I found it in your modlog. I didn't throw an "epic tantrum," nor did I scream. I responded to your claims with evidence and articles after you gish-galloped, and then you refused to read them because you didn't want to "do homework." Odd miscategorization, I must say.
What a wonderful misrepresentation of reality. Ah well, as you said, it's modlogged so good luck pretending
I don't need to pretend, I'll link it instead so others can see what actually happened if they want.
What’s more embarrassing than downvoting the facts when presented? Sad.
It was very silly.