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Comment on Tankie

Really? Because I’m always calling for staying out of conflicts and dramatically reducing the military budget and people are constantly calling me a tankie because of those stances.

See, if you don’t want war, it means you support the other side, and however bad “our” side is, the other side is always worse and more aggressive (the media says so, after all) and that means that anyone who’s pro-peace is actually pro-war.

So it was when I said we shouldn’t invade Iraq and Afghanistan, it meant that I was “a terrorist sympathizer” and “pro-Al Qaida,” and when I say we should stay out of Palestine, people say I’m “pro-Hamas” and when I say we should stay out of Ukraine people say I’m “pro-Russia” and a “tankie.” Consistently advocating against the use of tanks is essentially the defining characteristic of a “tankie.”

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bbboi@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
You sound much more of an isolationist than a tankie. Lol.

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- Objection@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  The word “isolationist” doesn’t exist in the vocabularies of most people around here. It doesn’t really matter why I disagree with US military interventions, the fact that I do means that I will inevitably be labelled tankie or a Russian bot. So you might as well ignore it, or love the word instead, cause you ain’t done nothing if you ain’t be called a Red.
  
  Besides, I’m not wholly an isolationist. I have no problem with trade or foreign aid, so long as it isn’t military aid. More accurately, I’m a dove. But “dove” doesn’t exactly work as an insult. Some liberals even like to imagine that they’re doves, unbelievably.
  
  But again, liberals don’t recognize that perspectives like “doves” or “isolationists” exist. You either follow the narrative of the media and politicians, or you get thrown into this big lump of Bad People™ with zero distinctions regarding why you disagree with them.
  
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- Aljernon@lemmy.today ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Isolationists would want to stay out of Ukraine to mind our own business, this guy wants to stay out of Ukraine because .ml is notorious for giving modern day Russia a free pass with their Imperial nonsense.
  
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  - Objection@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Case in point: Anyone who wants to stay out of conflicts automatically supports Russia. My actual reasons and motivations are totally irrelevant. Thank you for proving my point.
    
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    Aljernon@lemmy.today ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Your case would have a better point if Russia wasn’t constantly creating conflicts.
    
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Mulligrubs@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Yes, really! I’ve been called a tankie and a Nazi and worse. Don’t judge what a tankie or Nazi is by insults on the internet, hyperbole and bullshit rule.

Again, your definition is not the standard definition. Tankies love tanks. And Communism. And Stalin. Which is funny, because Stalin wasn’t much of a communist.

I use the standard definition, that’s it. I am not familiar with the tankies you describe, I haven’t met them… Tankies hating tanks seems wrong to me. Back in the day they loved the T-34 tank and Russia in WW2 and so on.

Where can I find YOUR definition of “tankie”, the peace loving gentle communist? Seriously

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- Objection@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  Don’t judge what a tankie or Nazi is by insults on the internet, hyperbole and bullshit rule.
  
  Words are defined by common use. If the common use of the word “tankie” is to throw it at people who oppose war, then that’s what it means now. You can say it’s defined as being pro- war, but I’ve never seen it used that way.
  
  Back in the day when word originated they loved the T-34 tank and Russia in WW2 and so on.
  
  Well sure, WWII is basically the go-to example of a necessary and justified war. There was a time in my life when I labelled myself as a pacifist and the counter-example that everyone always brought up was WWII.
  
  At that time, my position was that that was one exception from like 70 years ago and we shouldn’t make a rule from the exception considering how many unjustified wars have been fought since then. Now, my position is a little bit more flexible to account for that and a handful of other cases: now I say, “no war but class war,” and WWII was a class war.
  
  However, my position hasn’t actually changed much in practice since those days. The vast majority of wars and violence are systemic and fought for bourgeois interests, so I still oppose them. Only very rarely does violence happen in the opposite direction, for example if we compare the death tolls of Luigi Mangione to Brian Thompson.
  
  And what do you think the “tank” in “tankie” comes from?
  
  It comes from accusing people who oppose war of supporting the other side’s tanks, as I just explained to you in my previous comment.
  
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  - Mulligrubs@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    
    Words are defined by common use. If the common use of the word “tankie” is to throw it at people who oppose war, then that’s what it means now. You can say it’s defined as being pro- war, but I’ve never seen it used that way.
    
    Indeed. And the common use of the word tankie is “authoritarian communist”
    
    Why are you using an uncommon definition?
    
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    Objection@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    OK, next time someone calls me a tankie, I’ll just say, “Actually, I don’t support sending tanks to Ukraine” and I’m sure that’ll clear things up and convince them I’m not a tankie.
    
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