Anarchism

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How do people actually fall into the "Tankie" mindset? (anarchist.nexus)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by stinky@anarchist.nexus to c/anarchism@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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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 :)

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[–] Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's circular

[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Explain.

[–] Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't really believe that authoritarianism is materially possible in classless society

[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net -3 points 2 days ago

I believe that authoritarianism is the origin of class. All that it takes is for one person to draw a boundary, state "this is mine," and then enforce that with violence. There is no end of history. Even if we do manage to create a classless society, there's no guarantee that it will remain that way. To maintain such a society will require maintenance, and that means identifying and resisting authoritarianism when and where it inevitably emerges. It is therefore essential to have a word to describe the types of behaviour that can result in the reemergence of class society.