this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
196 points (87.1% liked)

Fediverse memes

2744 readers
69 users here now

Memes about the Fediverse.

Rules

General
  1. Be respectful
  2. Post on topic
  3. No bigotry or hate speech
  4. Memes should not be personal attacks towards other users
Specific
  1. We are not YPTB. If you have a problem with the way an instance or community is run, then take it up over at !yepowertrippinbastards@lemmy.dbzer0.com.

Elsewhere in the Fediverse

Other relevant communities:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] scintilla@piefed.zip -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I have identified as a communist since I came out of the alt right pipeline. But I also learned that just because propaganda says one thing that the opposite is true. Having a nuanced view of how to world works isn't a "rhetorical slide". Just because the west is evil doesn't mean the east isn't.

[โ€“] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Two points:

  1. If you believe in evil, your view isn't as nuanced as you think it is

  2. The assumption that "tankies" (communists with an understanding of history, geopolitics and systems theory) are simply swapping one set of unthinking blanket loyalites for another out of some kind of contrarianism or intellectual laziness is itself an intellectually lazy assumption based in a lack of understanding. If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't have had to read so many damn books. The actual truth is that the "tankie" worldview is by far the most nuanced out of all the mainstream political tendencies. It is built on dialectical and historical materialism rather than a static liberal idealism composed of floating signifiers. Rigorous analysis, critique and self-critique are built into it's foundations. To put it simply, the liberal and western leftist understanding of the world is a static, abstract diorama drenched in the residue of christianity while the tankie understanding is a scientific machine in constant motion. When western leftists who haven't yet examined their internalized propaganda and chauvinism say things like "just because the west is evil doesn't mean the east isn't" and think they're addressing something the "tankie" actually believes, they are projecting their own lack of nuance onto the tankie.

I started this comment feeling a lot more snarky, but have ended it feeling a lot more up to the task of explaining in good faith. I've been exactly where you are, I've been you. You have not yet been me.