this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2024
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This is something I occasionally hear and keep not understanding, and it makes me wonder if the word "tankie" is being thrown around a bit fast and loose. Last time I heard this, the reasoning referenced a Vaush video, which is... less than convincing.
My working definition of "tankie" would be someone who unironically full-on likes China*, which is not a take I've ever known J.T. to have. Do you use a different definition than me, or do you have specific things you're upset about?
^*^ ^Bear^ ^in^ ^mind^ ^I^ ^mean^ ^"likes^ ^China"^ ^here,^ ^not^ ^"thinks^ ^China^ ^and^ ^the^ ^U.S.^ ^are^ ^equally^ ^bad."^
My understanding of the full story, which comes from my personal observations of how his positions and rhetoric have changed paired with information people I trust have conveyed to me, is that Hakeem (a known Tankie) bragged about becoming Second Thought's personal confidant and shifting his position on several issues as he was becoming more educated in the left as a whole. His rhetoric shifted from liberal to left-leaning followed by several instances of him using tankie talking points and I remember at least one explicitly tankie video, which is around the time I gave up on him.
Tankies are authoritarians posing as leftists. People who lionize Mao, the Kim Regime, Stalin, Lenin, etc. Tankies always despise America as a concept and will usually give support to whatever they think is worst for America, regardless of how it affects the people not just of the United States, but of the world. I once had a tankie justify this stance and their position that anyone who isn't a tankie by telling me that the CIA had a program where they would make leftists movements that could ally with American hegemony, so anyone who didn't hate America was a fake leftist. These are the individuals you see who say that the GOP and DNC are equally bad, talk about how Russia invading Ukraine is fine actually, and how China invading Taiwan is actually good, because Taiwan is full of delusional people denying their heritage to pretend to be white. This is a series of talking points I had with an actual person over a conversation that lasted more than a week. I have since decided that I won't waste my time trying to talk to them anymore.
So that's my perspective on it. I can't promise it's perfect or even that it's any good, but it's the one I have. Hope that helps.
Edit: also, I'm fading in and out of a migrane nap, so apologies for the potential errors/lack of coherence/etc.
Late response (sorry!) but wanted to let you know that I appreciated the comment and details. Personally, this doesn't convince me he's a tankie, but that's largely because I'm not familiar enough with Hakeem to know he's a tankie, nor do I know what video you were referring to. Which is not to say you're outright wrong — just that I would want to see more specifics to change my opinion, is all. All the same, I appreciate the effort and am happy to better understand your position.
I do somewhat agree with your definition of a tankie, for what it's worth. I don't think saying the GOP and DNC are both bad is necessarily tankie behavior, but the rest makes sense. This said, I've personally seen extremely little defense of Russia from any far-left discourse, including communities close to Second Thought, and from what I hear from those communities China is still very divisive. You've clearly encountered worse though, and my experiences are limited, so take them for what you will.
We're internet strangers no need to apologize. 😂
Ty for the response, though. 💝