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Tankies: A Data-driven Understanding of Left-Wing Extremists on Reddit
(gnet-research.org)
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this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2024
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Describing tankies as further left than other leftists speaks to a poor definition or understanding of the left-right spectrum. There’s no way that apologia for brutal authoritarian dictatorships should be considered a left-wing idea.
That’s not what the article does if you read it though, although I understand why the title would make you think that.
The article defines tankies as a subgroup of extreme leftists, others which include anarchists (like me) and non-pro Stalin/Xi communists
But I did read it lol
The phrasing in the quoted bit seems more like they're simply comparing they're left-leaning extremism to other, supposedly extreme leftist subreddits based on the kind of discussions and topics within the subs and not the ideologies themselves.
They specifically phrased it as further left of the left, which in this context "left" clearly just means "an actual socialist who doesn't want billionaires to exist."
On that note I'd absolutely disagree that tankies are further left than a real socialist. One of the many reasons a single axis is meaningless for in depth political discussion.
oh wait I get what you’re saying now. Positioning as further left is probably not the best way to put it. It would be more accurate to say further from the mainstream opinion. I wonder if this is just the editorialisation of the piece I sent or language used in the actual paper they are summarising.
but the article is pretty clear that “tankies” aren’t the only “left wing extremists”
Well I certainly agree that left-wing extremism is a thing, including among a variety of leftist ideologies.
My issue is that I don’t think tankies should be considered leftists at all. They are admittedly hard to place on the spectrum because their ideas grew out of leftism, meaning many of their ideals, language, and issues of focus are shared with the left. So to a casual observer they may appear to be leftists. But once these ideas have been completely twisted and transformed to defend and strengthen existing oppressive social structures, they share a lot more in practice with the political right than the left. A wolf is still a wolf even if it wears a sheep hide. And trading a king for a chairman doesn’t make you left-wing if the chairman has most of the same powers and no structures for ordinary people to wield collective power.
Left and right have always been about human freedom and autonomy opposed to the oppression of monarchy and similar institutions, but people have become confused because parties tend to shift to the right the more power they gain. Today people seem to view left and right more as competing sports teams than the broad ideological schools of thought they are. Tankies do not fit with leftist thought and should not be considered any form of leftist, regardless of how extreme they may be.
I definitely agree with that. But I think to non-leftists it’ll be hard to get them to agree.
It's a perfect understanding of the bullshit meaningless names.
What do you mean?
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