• Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Basically someone that apologizes for war criminals.

    Its existence stems from people defending the massacre at Tiannenmen square.

    These days tankies appear in many forms. On Lemmy most commonly as people such as OP apologizing for Joe Biden being complicit in Genocide.

    • Apollo42@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Its existence stems from people defending the massacre at Tiannenmen square.

      I dont know if you or the person you picked it up from made this up but that is not the origin of the term.

      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 suppress the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the 1968 Prague Spring, or who more broadly adhered to pro-Soviet positions.

      Tankies are pro authoritarian, and always have been.

      • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
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        6 months ago

        Linkerbaan believes the murder of civilians is ‘targeted resistance’ because the civilians were under a regime supported by the West. They’re not arguing in good faith.