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Tankies: A Data-driven Understanding of Left-Wing Extremists on Social Media - GNET
(gnet-research.org)
this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025
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MeanwhileOnGrad
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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)
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Tankies are left? My understanding is that they're pro authoritarianism. Also I miss when US politics didn't polarise other countries. Left and right is stupid, it's a range of goals. Life is a spectrum, a scattergraph.
left/right are one axis, auth/lib are another axis, they're not mutually exclusive
left/right are always the axises. There’s anti-capitalist/capitalist which is the common European one and liberal/auth which is common elsewhere.
I guess authoritarians or fascists cosplaying as leftists. Don't think I really care about the labeling. Stethoscope theory and all that.
They're generally associated with the left and even more closely associated with the radical left. I figure that's probably according to plan as it helps neuter the left voices that oppose China and Russia.
Per Robert Evans, the guy that did the Israeli Embassy shooting was a Tankie.
This is a real fucking problem given what happened to the right. Hopefully, left groups are more immune to this sort of thing. They seem to struggle to get traction.
Sadly, we're all human and just as susceptible.
You're probably correct.
This kind of comment always reeks to me of "No True Scotsman". Communists and radicals are literally defined as being on the extreme left. People on Lemmy have no problem considering MAGAts rightwing (and they are) but I'm sure there are anti-Trump pure fiscal conservatives who claim that they aren't. But you don't see people defending the "right" in such a way on Lemmy.
Can't we just admit that the extreme left or extreme right are both similarly bad?
Tankies aren't meaningfully left in the same way conservatives and magats aren't meaningfully right. They completely eschew concepts of left and right that challenge their authority. They are authoritarian first. Left of right is a cosplay.
Literally the US is becoming like China and vice versa. As they both consolidate power among smaller and smaller groups.
It's almost like the political spectrum is a false dichotomy that only feeds into the us vs them narrative that is fueling conflicts all over the world.
It's a major red flag when they are described as leftist. Being for the working class, minorities, and against hierarchies does not align with supporting totalitarian regimes. Those people may pretend otherwise, but that would be like voting for Trump while claiming to be for trans rights. Pure lip service.
They are leftists if we use a Anti-capitalist vs capitalist system.
The left is defined as putting the collective state first, while the right is defined by individualism before all else. The extreme right eventually advocates for leadership and control by the "superior" individuals that rise through that individualism, which is essentially the belief that it's the strong's right to rule, regardless of whether you define strength to be wealth, intelligence, social clout or otherwise. The extreme left eventually advocates for the total supremecy of the state, seeing any level of social deviancy as damaging to their collective society. These are tankies: the "states can do no wrong" crowd.
Unfortunately, both binaries of the political spectrum are prone to authoritarianism once you go far enough. It's almost like the real issue is extreme ideals that leave no room for nuance and understanding.
I used to consider myself extremely radically left, before I stumbled across the absurdity of the Tankies that permeate certain areas of Lemmy. And I mean, as far as Western politics is concerned I am absurdly leftist. Just not that kind of leftist