I’m sure this is a super common question but why do people (generally liberals or sometimes people on the left) call basically everyone who mildly agree with current more authoritarian leaning socialist states tankies
I wouldn’t nessicarily call myself a tankie but I can also fully understand why people feel that label fits them when so many people call so many perspectives tankie perspectives and just shove them in a corner
Not sure if that makes sense as a question but I hope it does
For the same reason we were called “pinkos” and “commies” and “reds” during the Cold War. It’s a meaningless epithet only designed to otherize and marginalize anyone opposing imperialism and siding with real socialist and anti-imperialist forces.
You can look at it just like any other perjorative used against someone who poses a threat to the ruling class and the status quo.
When people who ostensibly call themselves leftists start calling you these names, that’s just a way for them to signal to the ruling class that they are not like you, that they are part of the obedient ones, that they do not pose a real threat, that they are a system-compatible opposition that the ruling class can ignore or even reward.
This is very good and I am going to weaponize this idea against liberals.
"You think of me as a Taknie? oh thank you for the complement, Its so nice that there is a word which obedient workers who are not a threat to the exploitation class can use to point out trouble makers like me who are not willing to knuckle under.