this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Bringing up Tiananmen when there are documented instances (with actual evidence) of people getting run over by Israeli tanks and bulldozers in Gaza right now. Backed by the US government. With the US President actively spreading FUD about the scale and extent of atrocities. Nice.

Xizang is literally the phonetic transliteration for the region of the TAR. You're basically saying that we should keep the name Western colonialists gave a territory because Western brains would get hurt if the name changed.

[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 36 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I love how you Tankies just assume everyone but you is pro-US or something.

Yeah, absolutely; the Chinese government is evil just like Israel and the US's governments. Glad we agree that they're all imperialist genociders! Good talk!

[–] LicenseToChill@lemdro.id 7 points 11 months ago

For these people it's the most grievous offense to criticize china and russia, and if you're not constantly cheering for total annihilation of the West, you're an ontologically evil libshit and deserve to be gulag'd

[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

By the widely recognized origin of the word (the Soviet Union rolling in tanks to suppress revolution in Hungary) and what it means (people in support of that use of force and tanks to suppress civilian revolution), supporters of Israel and the US are both "tankies." Glad we agree, good talk!

[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Wow, it's absolutely hilarious that you're trying to reclaim that term. Good luck! xD

[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Tankie refers to those people who supported the Soviet use of tanks to quell the Hungarian revolution. Literally, it's the exact same thing Israel is doing in Gaza.

[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Not quite what it refers to now, but I'm sure you'll inform us that you know better.

Tankie is a pejorative label generally applied to communists who express support for one-party communist regimes that are associated with Marxism–Leninism, whether contemporary or historical.

[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

The term "tankie" was originally used by dissident Marxist–Leninists to describe members of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) who followed the party line of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Specifically, it was used to distinguish party members who spoke out in defense of the Soviet use of tanks to crush the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the 1968 Prague Spring uprising.

This is why people don't cite Wikipedia.

[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yes, that is the origin of the term, but it is not what it means now. Is that too complex for you?

[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

By the widely recognized origin of the word (the Soviet Union rolling in tanks to suppress revolution in Hungary) and what it means (people in support of that use of force and tanks to suppress civilian revolution), supporters of Israel and the US are both "tankies." Glad we agree, good talk!

Let me be a bit more clear:

By the widely recognized origin of the word

Edit: maybe I wasn't clear enough

widely recognized origin

[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Ah, I see your confusion.

what it means (people in support of that use of force and tanks to suppress civilian revolution)

This ^ is the incorrect part of your statement. That is not what it means now.

edit: Also

Tankie refers to those people who supported the Soviet use of tanks to quell the Hungarian revolution.

Emphasis added. If you meant "referred" in the past tense, that was a typo on your part. Otherwise, you are just trying to reclaim the term to an earlier meaning.

[–] FaeDrifter@midwest.social 2 points 11 months ago

supporters of Israel and the US are both "tankies." Glad we agree, good talk!

Based af, the tankies who support Chinese and Russian imperialism are equivalent to the tankies who support US and Israeli imperialism.

[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

For what it's worth, there's still no evidence that Chinese tanks actually killed anyone on 6/4. No journalists on the ground found any indication of a mass casualty event on Tiananmen Square, which directly contradicts the claims made by protestors that there was. The same cannot be said for Soviet tanks in Hungary or Israeli tanks in Gaza, where civilian causalities are rather well-documented.

[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 15 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

What's saddest about this is that it took me literally 3 minutes to find images of tanks in Tiananmen running over student barricades, and blood streaks left on the ground afterwards, and bodies on the ground, but you don't actually care at all, you'll just cover your ears and push your narrative. You're no better than people downplaying what Israel and America do, but you are so wrapped up in the righteousness of your ML rhetoric that you'll just deny it and make up excuses for your side doing the same stuff.

[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

took me literally 3 minutes to find images of tanks in Tiananmen running over student barricades, and blood streaks left on the ground afterwards

I'm not as fast browsing through the 2141 images you've linked, most of them of protesters, some burned down tanks, and someone on a bike dressed as a tank. Could you point to the exact images you're referring to?

[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Have you seen the blood streaks that tank tracks create? You can look at some of the videos in Gaza if you want to.

Try again, maybe this time with actual evidence instead of unfounded conjecture.

Edit: To clarify, I don't think anybody is denying that people were hurt and killed on 6/4. Let's make that clear. If anything, the Tank Man video shows that tank drivers were under orders to avoid civilian casualties.

[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Thank you for demonstrating my point.

It's very funny to me that you keep bringing up Gaza like it's some counterpoint to what I'm saying, when all you're doing is pointing out another bloodthirsty regime's crimes. Do you think that Israel's government being evil is somehow a rebuttal to China's government being evil?

[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You haven't provided any actual evidence.

Is your point that your opinion is built on vibes?

[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, no evidence of anything, just images of the massacre. But those could really depict anything!

lmao

[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago

You're claiming there's a blood smear from a tank running over a body.

Have you seen a tank before? Do you think a tank is just a single block of metal?

[–] FaeDrifter@midwest.social 3 points 11 months ago

No journalists on the ground found any indication of a mass casualty event on Tiananmen Square

ON Tiananmen Square. This is fascist-level wordplay. The same journalists found a massacre all around Tiananmen Square in the rest of Beijing.

no evidence that Chinese tanks actually killed anyone on 6/4

This is just a straight up lie. Lots of people were killed in Beijing. Just possibly not any within the tiny physical confines of Tiananmen Square itself.

[–] 0x815@feddit.de 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

@zerfuffle

Yes, I fully understand what you say. You mean this, but honestly, does it add any value?

[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago

Dude brought up a completely unrelated topic and used the "tankie" perjorative, a term that literally describes IDF supporters based on the actions of the IDF in Gaza.

[–] livus@kbin.social 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

the name Western colonialists gave a territory because Western brains would get hurt

This is one of those cases where we really need to know the wishes of the people in question before we make assumptions.

Case in point: Myanmar. "Burma" is the British colonial name, however it is preferred by some of the freedom fighters fighting the Tatmadaw because "Myanmar" is associated with the Junta's regime. And the real/pre-colonial name varies because the old name Myanma Pran is associated with a specific ethnic group, the Burmese.

[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 months ago

Freedom fighters funded by the US, with an office in Washington? Odd how it's always Western-funded parties that want to maintain colonial names...