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this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2024
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MeanwhileOnGrad
1333 readers
362 users here now
"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.
founded 1 year ago
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While I wouldn’t say I like the instance users I do get some value from engaging with tankies, personally. They have a unique perspective and it motivates me to learn more about aspects history and politics that are not always discussed by other groups of people.
The big problem is that I’m not allowed to correct their misinformation. This makes honest discussions and learning impossible on the .ml instance. Since my instance is defederated from grad and Hexbear I have little knowledge of their space. When you say I wouldn’t like it, is that due to the users or due to the way the space is moderated? Can I go to these spaces and offer a respectful dissenting viewpoint? Personally I find that to be a very significant distinction. I don’t mind being the bearer of unpopular truths—in fact it gives me a certain satisfaction. But I will not tolerate spaces where the truth is completely silenced.
No, you'll likely get banned.
I also appreciate alternative perspectives, especially if they can back it up with solid sources. I've consistently pushed against defederation on my own instance because I think seeing their posts has value. However, in many cases they'll brigade posts to drown out topics they don't like, or if it's on their instance, they'll push for the users to get banned.
Unfortunately that kind of behavior from users is common on pretty much every instance from what I’ve seen. Just go to Lemmy.world and try to criticize Kamala Harris and see how it goes.
But from what I’ve seen the admins and mods there and on most other instances (usually) take a more measured hand and only ban when necessary, while frank discussion of Chinese history on Lemmy.ml is equated with racism and will get you an immediate ban from the entire instance.
That’s why I, even as a non-tankie leftist, prefer these spaces even though many tankies will claim they’re overrun with liberals. I still disagree with a lot of the conventional wisdom there, but I’m allowed to express that dissent and discuss any topic I wish to in a respectful way, which I think helps me and other people understand these contentious issues more fully and accurately.
I'm sure I have. I don't pay close attention to which instances I post on, and I've certainly criticized Kamala Harris, perhaps more than Donald Trump, because there are so many posts from people who are obviously on Harris' camp spreading disinformation and very few in the opposite direction.
Don't get me wrong though, I despise Trump and believe he will be worse for our country than Harris, I just disagree that Harris is "good" in any sense of the word. She's mediocre at best, and was dead last on my preferred list of presidential candidates in 2016 for the Democratic Party and Biden wasn't much higher (Trump was dead last for me on the Republican side). My state is going to elect Trump, regardless of how I vote, so I'm voting third party to signal that I'm unsatisfied with either option. I voted for Biden last election though, because I thought he had a chance of flipping my state (I'm in Utah, and people here generally dislike Trump). But no, he lost by ~20% like most elections here, and Harris is even less likeable than Biden.
For reference, I'm a left-leaning libertarian. I support things like UBI/NIT, with the argument that it's better than our overly complicated welfare system, which is hard for the people who need the benefits the most to actually use. I'm less motivated by "taxation is theft" and more motivated by "less is more" when it comes to government (i.e. I'm fine raising taxes, if it means government services are less complex/subjective).
So maybe I'm a bit less welcome than you, because I tend to push back on the general idea of "more government = better," which seems to be pretty common among "tankies," and I'm generally pretty skeptical of government in general. That said, I tend to restrict discussion to things we may be able to make progress on (i.e. UBI/NIT, abortion policy, etc), but even then I get a lot of pushback because I don't agree with the underlying assumption that government is good.