this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025

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MeanwhileOnGrad

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Meanwhile On Grad

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

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goat@sh.itjust.works

Tankies think the USSR invading Poland was actually a good thing, that they had no choice putting Polish citizens into labour camps and that they had to align with Nazi Germany. (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 5 days ago by goat@sh.itjust.works to c/meanwhileongrad@sh.itjust.works

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[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 36 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Largely to prevent the Nazis from taking all of Poland

Polish People's Republic was flawed but overall a net positive

Dude this has to be performance art.

I had Cowbee categorized as "actually believes this stuff for whatever reason" as opposed to "taking the piss" or just working his day job (and I guess trying to break down categories of that is pretty much a waste of time anyway), but holy smokes. It's hard for me to believe a person exists who is this deluded.

I knew a few people whose families fled from communism, and I used to work with some guys from Eastern Europe who would practically physically attack you if you ever called them "Russian" because of hearing their accent. Yes, Polish communism was "flawed." That's one way to put it, yes.

[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 29 points 5 days ago (2 children)

That's because cowbee is a huge piece of shit. Dude lives in the west and has no clue what it was like under the ussr. If he wants to move to russia I'll pay for the plane ticket and sunflower seeds he can put in his pocket.

I have family who have died in Poland from the ussr occupation and in Ukraine as well. These western tankies can go fuck themselves. To me this is the equivalent of the right wing praising the nazis.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 21 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Yeah, pretty much. I guess the speculative lore progression is:

Lemmy.ml developers become communist because they value human freedom and economic justice 👍️
Dessalines goes further than that into pro-China and pro-USSR because he's young and like a lot of people has more idealism than sense and detailed knowledge, and attention-seeking iconoclasty is fun 🤔
Entire instances crop up full of people who love to "dunk on the libs" and be edgelords by posting pro-North Korea and pro-CCP content 😐
State actors join in to egg up the content and work to direct it subtly or unsubtly at the Democrats and NATO 🙁
Russian expats join in because they need a community and this is literally the only place that is accessible to them that will tell them that "their people" are anyone other than the villains ☹️ <- This comment thread is here
Groupthink intensifies, borders of the in-group solidify, anyone who questions the narrative get banned ☹️
"Hey guys can we have some of your money for Lemmy development" 🙄

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 days ago

You hit the nail on the head

[–] Tollana1234567 1 points 5 days ago (2 children)

they went so far left, they end up being on the right/autotharian.

[–] Tomassci@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 days ago

I wouldn't say this is due to simply being far-left. It may have started as such, but then they decided to subdue their political beliefs to geopolitics, and pursue geopolitical beliefs first and foremost. And those geopolitical beliefs favor a competition-minded worldview, a "might makes right" one, and a black'n'white perception. Tankies have just started being fanatic for one of the sides, almost being nationalists for another country, just like far-rightists.

[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 4 points 4 days ago

An authoritarians only priority is their authority. Their economic leanings can flip on a dime depending on what's convenient. So technically they are economically centrist by circumstance. But have never been meaningfully left in any sense.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

red fascism is still fascism. tankies are conservatives wearing a fluffier hat

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 days ago

I think it boils down to extreme beliefs. It is no longer rational.

[–] InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago (2 children)

At best I categorize this as cognitive dissonance. They want to believe anti imperialism is good and that communism is always used positively. They then reason their justification for things. I've pointed out that US attitude to Latin America is similar to Russian on Central Asia. Either they have dissonance or they just have a flavor of authoritarian and empire they like. Hard to tell.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 8 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Yeah. I was going to try to delve into the psychology of it (and compare and contrast it against MAGA people I've talked to who seem like they use a very similar flavor of "logic"), but what the hell man. I'm just not into it today. They're just idiots.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 days ago

I think they are more human than most people would like to admit

They define there entire identity to a fringe political belief system and anything that goes against that belief is seen as a deep personal attack. I think there are less extreme versions of this in mainstream politics and it is genuinely harmful.

[–] InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I do try to be more empathetic and patient with my fellow left leaning people. Tho I overall consider tankies to be bad allies.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 6 points 4 days ago

Someone who supports modern Russia or the modern CCP is not "left leaning" in any sense which makes sense to me.

Maybe it's not real productive to have an extensive debate about labels, but the exact reason I dislike these people is because they're doing so much legwork for horrific right-leaning regimes. If they also have some left-wing views, then great, but it doesn't really excuse their support for de facto fascism in my view.

[–] Jiggle_Physics@sh.itjust.works 9 points 5 days ago

Yeah, people who spread apologia for horrific regimes are not your friends

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 days ago

Extreme beliefs never make much sense. You can be left leaning but still willing to think independently. Don't let others tell you what to believe. Avoid political circle jerks and ask the hard questions.

[–] Rose@lemmy.zip 14 points 5 days ago

But then if you bring up the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they'll bring up Bandera and suddenly care about Poland.

[–] RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Hey that's me

[–] goat@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 days ago (2 children)

what are your thoughts on being banned?

[–] RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Well it happened again when talking with Cowbell just now hah, but in a different community.

[–] goat@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago

share?

[–] RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 3 points 4 days ago

It happens

[–] goat@sh.itjust.works 16 points 5 days ago

'But that's not what actually happen'--(banned)

[–] ideonek@piefed.social 5 points 5 days ago

Polish People Republic was an opressive dictatorship.