Anarchism

precisely this, I would say with a touch of "just wanting to belong". I think a lot of people who end up in tankie circles are chronically online, and have a hard time socializing. echo chambers don't really care, and will treat anyone who regurgitates the same talking points as an equal. maybe that's just around here though, there's plenty of leftists around but I have yet to see specifically ML/maoist groups that aren't just more than reading theory. I imagine it's easy to fall into that kinda "western country bad" thought pattern when the only people who you interact with tell you it's righteous and justified with zero nuance.

I'm a socialist and am lucky enough to meet a lot of leftists irl, and I get along with all of them regardless of specific viewpoints. unfortunately, the people who are the loudest on lemmy aren't the kind of people you meet walking down the street, so they end up lacking the "challenging your own ideals" bit of developing rational and sane viewpoints.