Exactly. If I were to armchair psychoanalyze them, I'd say they're probably the same sorts of people who become alt-right, except on the left. Blatant black-and-white thinking. Treating absolutely everything as a team sport. Eschewing all nuance. Having a weird sense of nationalism for dictatorships that commit genocides and human rights abuses. Obsession with some grand "conspiracy" involving "elites" holding society back from prosperity. Blaming LGBT and other perceived "degenerates" for being privileged elites also holding society back from prosperity somehow. Tendency to simp for strong-men and dictators.

They fit a lot of Umberto Eco's 14 signs of fascism.

[–] Dettweiler42 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It's the new word for "commie" that I've only ever seen on Lemmy. I'm guessing some people thought that was a bit too cliche.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

‘Tankie’ has been a thing since tanks rolled into Eastern Europe in the 1950s…

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Not new, Tankies have existed since Khrushchev sent tanks to shut down a revolution in Hungary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956 And was a way to describe hardliners by the mid sixties.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I've seen it on Reddit a lot, but usually from UK and Australian users.