this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2024
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MeanwhileOnGrad

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"Oh, this is calamity! Calamity! Oh no, he's on the floor!"

Welcome to MoG!


Meanwhile On Grad


Documenting hate speech, conspiracy theories, apologia/revisionism, and general tankie behaviour across the fediverse. Memes are welcome!


What is a Tankie?


Alternatively, a detailed blog post about Tankies.

(caution of biased source)


Basic Rules:

Sh.itjust.works Instance rules apply! If you are from other instances, please be mindful of the rules. — Basically, don't be a dick.

Hate-Speech — You should be familiar with this one already; practically all instances have the same rules on hate speech.

Apologia(Using the Modern terminology for Apologia) No Defending, Denying, Justifying, Bolstering, or Differentiating authoritarian acts or endeavours, whether be a Pro-CCP viewpoint, Stalinism, Islamic Terrorism or any variation of Tankie Ideology.

Revisionism — No downplaying or denying atrocities past and present. Calling Tankies shills, foreign/federal agents, or bots also falls under this rule. Extremists exist. They are real. Do not call them shills or fake users as it handwaves their extremism.

Tankies can explain their views but may be criticised or attacked for them. Any slight infraction on the rules above will immediately earn a warning and possibly a ban.

Off-topic Discussion — Do not discuss unrelated topics to the point of derailing the thread. Stay focused on the direct content of the post as opposed to arguing.

You'll be warned if you're violating the instance and community rules. Continuing poor behaviour after being warned will result in a ban or removal of your comments. Bans typically only last 24 hours, but each subsequent infraction will double the amount. Depending on the content, the ban time may be increased. You may request an unban at any time.


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Tankies are just MAGA pretending to be communist

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[–] mecfs 75 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Oh god looking at this guys account has so many gems

[–] [email protected] 59 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Jesus Christ, you're not kidding. It's fascinating but I feel like looking at it may have damaged me in some way.

Stuff like this is going to happen. The more they keep inciting transphobic hatred, the more likely that a masculine woman is going to be assaulted. It’s not funny because the woman might not even be a TERF and could be completely innocent.

Abortion and euthanasia are going to lead to autistic people being murdered. Neo progressives already believe that disabled children should be aborted and atheists admit that “life begins some time after birth” meaning they openly support euthanasia up to age five in some cases. A lot of neo progressives think the most humane option for disabled children is abortion or euthanasia at a young age.

My sister supported abortion before she transitioned and she says that she was a creepy white knight when she supported it.

I support raising the minimum wage, but there should be an exemption for people living with middle class parents.

I think they are just trying to pursue viewpoint-inception in a way that deliberately will make everyone in the conversation mad at them, so they can get a high score. I cannot imagine any other explanation.

[–] Lemminary 35 points 3 months ago (1 children)

atheists admit that “life begins some time after birth” meaning they openly support euthanasia up to age five in some cases

Pfft. I support abortion up until 99 years of age. At 100 you get a gold star and the doctor says it's not advisable because it'll naturally happen "any moment now".

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

Imagine your mother killing you at 40 years old

[–] absquatulate 14 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Holy smokes! That account has to be a bot. Awful incoherent ramblings and correct grammar just don't mix.

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[–] mecfs 38 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Also I’ll add that this persons instance is literally a russian domain so I guess they are like a putin stooge or something

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago (2 children)

most likely a troll.

i've never heard of a tankie denying climate change since they think it puts China in a good light (despite producing the most emissions out of any country)

[–] NOT_RICK 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Having a Russian domain is def an easy way to harvest the “zomg Russian shill” rage

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

i mean they exist. just not on lemmy.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago

I wouldn't be so sure they aren't on Lemmy.

There's whole instances that are big fans.

[–] Buddahriffic 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I guess there's the question of whether those on Russian division campaigns could be called "just trolls", but they aren't tankies. Tankies have an ideology while the Russian troll farms don't, other than inflaming anything they possibly can to increase division and get people angry at each other.

They simultaneously take extreme positions on any debate. Their goal isn't to convince anyone about their extreme position other than to make readers think they are genuine, so they opposition then thinks what they are up against is more extreme and dangerous, and thus they need to escalate their own position. They want people who care about women's rights to be at odds with people who care about men's rights (the obvious one) and also less obvious ones like gay rights, trans rights, racial rights, hell if they can get feminists fighting with vegans, that would be a big win.

The ultimate goal is to paralyze the culture by making it argue with extreme strawman versions of reasonable positions for every topic it can.

[–] mojofrododojo 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I guess there’s the question of whether those on Russian division campaigns could be called “just trolls”, but they aren’t tankies. Tankies have an ideology while the Russian troll farms don’t, other than inflaming anything they possibly can to increase division and get people angry at each other.

would love to know the discerning characteristics that differentiate these populations because holy fuck when I encounter this kind of stuff my brain starts to vomit and nuances kinda get lost

[–] Buddahriffic 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There's no real specific things that you can use to identify the troll farms.

Tankies are pro-Russia and pro-China (and maybe others?) to the point where they believe the atrocities are justified. The part that is hard to tell about them is more whether they honestly believe that stuff as individuals and whether they are posting on their own free time or because they are hired to do so.

At a high level, they have two different functions (assuming state sponsored troll farms vs state sponsored tankies): tankies generate positive propaganda intended to convince others to support Russia or China. Troll farms generate polarizing propaganda for or against any topic (maybe even including the tankie topic).

Like consider the topic of feminism.

A tankie might approach it as "everyone has a place and is valued" when talking to feminists, or "everyone knows their place and does their duties" if talking to a conservative audience. The intent is to say the area they like is good.

A troll would talk to feminists about how evil men are and how they always cause problems, that they are all together against women. Or to conservatives about how women want to have their cake and eat it too, how feminism is about replacing the patriarchy with a matriarchy, or turning men into women. The intent is to rile up people who are already leaning that way while also making that group look scary to outsiders who see into the echo chamber.

Those are made up examples, I'm not sure I've ever seen tankies talking about feminism (though I'd be extremely surprised if I've never seen a troll farm conversation about feminism). And often, if the topic isn't directly related to China or Russia, they aren't really recognizable and tbh they might actually be troll farms just doing the same thing with the topic of China or Russia... The more I think about it, the more sense it makes because they are more polarizing than effective.

It's deliberately not easy to follow. That frustrated "it's too complicated, I give up on even trying to figure this out" is another one of the goals. It's all about getting people to disengage from each other and fight each other so that there aren't strong communities, which then compounds the problems even more.

[–] mojofrododojo 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It’s deliberately not easy to follow.

gish gallop all the way.

appreciate the feedback

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Red fox? This is defamation 🦊

[–] [email protected] 61 points 3 months ago (2 children)

This was, unironically, a CCP talking point.

In 1995.

[–] chuckleslord 25 points 3 months ago

Basing your entire viewpoint as an opposition to a group will always make you look dumb. Your thoughts should be based on the most correct data you have available.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 7 points 3 months ago

In fairness, weather models and climate patterns have come a long way since the mid-90s. Meanwhile, folks who did have access to advanced climate data worked very hard to cover it up.

Thankfully, the world's largest population does appear to be taking climate change much more seriously in the 2020s than they did in the 1990s. Would that more countries took the threat of the Holocene extinction more seriously.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 3 months ago (4 children)

or the elite are just a bunch of short-sighted idiots.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago

You don't have to think ahead when you can just pay other people for everything without ever impacting your standard of living.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think it's even simpler than that. They're millionaires. Why would they give a shit if their house is under water in 20 years. They'll just get another one and stay in their other houses while they find another beach front house, and get some money back from the house insurance they can afford.

[–] barsquid 5 points 3 months ago

Yeah they have FEMA insurance so our taxes pay for it. They love taking our tax money and spending it on their excesses.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What's idiotic?

If they only care about short term fulfillment/success, they are "winning".

Obviously long term it's idiotic but they clearly don't care

[–] NOT_RICK 5 points 3 months ago

Hedonism, in my society?!?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 3 points 3 months ago

Impossible. If they were stupid, how could they possibly have gotten so rich? Its not as though you can just steal billions of dollars through systemic coercion, corruption, and graft.

[–] kitnaht 35 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This is one of those hate-bait accounts, I'm almost sure of it. But you know...poe's law and all...

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (7 children)

Is anyone still actually confused about the very obvious link between tankies and right wing trolls?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

Their hatred of liberals.

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[–] johannesvanderwhales 22 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Maybe you should be more worried about the fact that they can afford million dollar disposable beach front vacation homes

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Parasites aren't they?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There are plenty of conservatives on Lemmy. I don’t think it’s even pretend tankies I think some people are just straight up MAGA that found their way to a hostile part of the internet lol

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (11 children)

there's conservatives on lemmy? where?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (2 children)

They even have a whole community, [email protected]

...or rather there's a handful of people posting stories there just to be downvoted by random lemm.ee users browsing the local feed, often followed up by getting dissected in the comments.

[–] barsquid 6 points 3 months ago

That's a great place to go if you want to argue about Southern Strategy. You can experience well-considered positions such as, "name the exact day or it is fake," "nuh uh," and "no, you."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

I tried going here. I was hoping for a post-Trump community, but that place is led by a fascist mod. His whole post history is asking for good faith arguments while delivering bad faith. The mod ACTUALLY believes the words coming out of Trump's mouth. He'll tell you how the crazy left is fighting for an open border and they hate our country. It's not reality. It's not even head-in-the-sand. It's pure fairy tale.

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[–] Hobbes_Dent 17 points 3 months ago (2 children)

The elites are building spaceships, cities, and don’t care about the house after they are dead nor its insurability.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

They have beach houses, city pads, mountain retreats and bug out farms in NZ.

They know climate change is real and coming they think they are rich enough to avoid the worst of it.

They don’t give a toss about the resale value of their coastal properties.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 1 points 3 months ago

The elites are building spaceships

glances at the Boeing Starliner, the Blue Origin vomit comet, and Virgin Galactic vaporware

Idk if I'd necessarily trust these to get me to safety.

[–] Passerby6497 12 points 3 months ago

"People with money to waste wouldn't waste money on something that will bring them joy and status in the short term."

[–] glitchdx 2 points 3 months ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

No they are spending it to get to the moon or mars

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