this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2025
219 points (91.3% liked)

Anarchism

2659 readers
31 users here now

Discuss anarchist praxis and philosophy. Don't take yourselves too seriously.

Other anarchist comms

Join the matrix room for some real-time discussion.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
219
How do people actually fall into the "Tankie" mindset? (anarchist.nexus)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by stinky@anarchist.nexus to c/anarchism@lemmy.dbzer0.com
778 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

After seeing a megathread praising Mao Zedong, an actual mass killer, and a post about a guy saying "99% of westerners are 100000000000% sure they know what happened in 'Tiny Man Square' [...] the reasons for this are complex and involve propaganda [...]," I am genuinely curious what leads people to this belief system. Even if propaganda is involved when it comes to Tiananmen Square, it doesn't change the atrocities that were/are committed everywhere else in China.

I am all for letting people believe what they want but I am lost on why one would deliberately praise any authoritarian system this hard.

Can someone please help me understand why this is such a large and prominent community? How have these ideals garnered such a following outside of China?

EDIT: Thank you to everyone who has responded! This thread has been very insightful :)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 26 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

US propaganda: "Russia, China, and North Korea are hellscapes filled with mindless automatons ruled over by evil, ruthless dictators with unlimited, supernatural powers who sit on ivory thrones all day and press the human misery button. Their people yearn for freedom and will greet us as liberators if we nuke their governments, because every citizen is a prisoner."

Russian propaganda: "The West is full of d*gener*te queers^[Tankies reject this bigotry.], and the US repeatedly meddles in the affairs of other nations.^[Undoubtedly true]"

North Korean propaganda: "We built a row of houses in this rural village and gave them to the farmers that live there."

Chinese propaganda: "Look at this cute panda eating bamboo and rolling down a hill."