Lead Lemmy Developer, Dessalines, denying the Tiananmen Square Massacre and praising the Uyghur Genocide https://sh.itjust.works/post/8419342 [https://sh.itjust.works/post/8419342] Dessalines AKA “parentis_shotgun” on Reddit, is the main Lemmy dev, also the admin of lemmy.ml [http://lemmy.ml] and lemmygrad.ml [http://lemmygrad.ml]. Their post and discussions on Reddit (archive as the original post must have been removed): https://web.archive.org/web/20230626055233/https://old.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/cqgztr/fuck_the_white_supremacist_reddit_admins_want_me/ [https://web.archive.org/web/20230626055233/https://old.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/cqgztr/fuck_the_white_supremacist_reddit_admins_want_me/] Please join the discussions for Lemmy.ml [http://Lemmy.ml] tankie censorship problem: https://lemmy.world/post/16211417 [https://lemmy.world/post/16211417] And the discussions for finding/creating alternative communities on other instances: https://lemmy.world/post/16235541 [https://lemmy.world/post/16235541] What is a tankie? Tankie is a pejorative label generally applied to authoritarian communists, especially those who support acts of repression by such regimes or their allies. More specifically, the term has been applied to those who express support for one-party Marxist–Leninist socialist republics, whether contemporary or historical. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie]
  • Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]
    ·
    28 days ago

    This thread inspired me to finally revisit an old comment I left on The Deprogram's "Tankie Discourse" video.

    Show Screencap from a YouTube comments section. At Erikatharsis writes 11 months ago, "I've heard similar points made by others and I'm inclined to agree, so for a good while I've avoided using terms like "red fascist" or "tankie" in favor of actually trying to engage with other branches of the left. I'd say this has been a valuable change in attitude particularly because of how ML thought is more popular in the imperial periphery. So being open about discussing different forms of leftism is very important for building international connections because different forms of leftism are best suited for different countries' conditions, right? But I still feel like there are at least a few responsible use cases for terms like "tankie". Using the term responsibly would mean giving it a good think first and clarifying the term's nebulousness when you use it. And of course if you hear somebody else use that word you should always ask why. Because we've all seen how quickly conservatives crumble when asked to define what "woke" actually is, right? The same thing happens when you ask liberals to define "tankie", or so I've found. So for instance I think a year ago, I described to a liberal friend a dream I had about hijacking a tank and using it to disperse a fascist rally meant to intimidate immigrants and refugees. The friend said that I "went tankie on them" and expressed how he was glad that I "wasn't a tankie in real life". And I just thought, "Wait, so if this had actually happened, according to this North Carolinian white boy, the moral course of action would've been to just let the fascists keep on chanting slurs at every dark-skinned passerby? Fucking OK." And I usually describe myself as an anarchist just so we're clear. You know what they say about when a so-and-so gets cut a such-and-such bleeds. But of course I the haver of correct opinions in my infinite wisdom only use "redfash" to describe everybody who deserves to be called "redfash" and never anybody who doesn't. By which I mean that I used the term "red fascist" exactly once, recently, in quotation marks because I was paraphrasing someone else, to describe a Dengist with some very reactionary attitudes towards queer people and Muslims, which he justified by citing the ramblings of various far-right conspiracy theorists. And like, that's justifiable isn't it? Please tell me that's justifiable." At Erikatharsis replies 11 months ago, "Also, Katyusha pog." At Kickin Rad Top Hat replies 11 months ago, "I dunno I'd sooner just call that person in the last paragraph confused rather than dignify such a position with an actual label. A point they make a lot in the episode, and it's one worth keeping in mind, is that the main people using terms like "tankie" are very unserious terminally online types and are usually just using it in bad faith to shut down the conversation. [read more button]" At Erikatharsis replies to at Kickin Rad Top Hat 11 months ago, "Confused", "a weirdo", "bonkers", "unleftist", the number of terms one could use to refer to the person in the last paragraph abound. But yeah. I see what you're saying." At Sentientnatalie replies to at Porky 11 months ago, "This one sounds very apt." At American Communist 6076 replies six months ago, "Hexbear posters lets goooooo" At Erikatharsis replies 37 minutes ago, "I want to clarify: in the last paragraph I'm referring to Dessalines. That very uncharitable description of him comes from things I read on Raddle about him during the Reddit blackout in the brief window of time before I finally joined the fediverse. This was back when I was still an anarchist so I took this self-declared anarchist site at its word. I can now confidently say that I spend about half my day on a social media platform that Dessalines is the lead developer of; my phone's keyboard is also developed by him; I'm subscribed to his YouTube channel; and I've even gotten the opportunity to have a pleasant chat with him about Toki Pona as an open trans woman. So Dessalines I'm glad to say is not at all the type of revisionist reactionary nutjob who I made him out to be in the above comment, quite the contrary in fact. So that last paragraph in the above comment is all just a bunch of meaningless accusations from a bunch of Raddle weirdos who I should absolutely not have been so quick to believe without question. So I just feel kind of ashamed about judging ol' Dessalines so harshly and for treating Raddle with any amount of seriousness, when I'd later find out that Dessalines is actually all around a standup guy who does a lot of very great and admirable work, including making an audiobook of Settlers. So yeah, uhh, sorry, Dessy-boy. I have nothing but respect for you now."

      • Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]
        ·
        28 days ago

        Erikatharsis was the first name. I go by Erika2rsis on Blåhaj Lemmy and Erika4sis on Lemmygrad, so that's probably what you're thinking of. Honestly Erika2rsis is still the best name, because the pun works in English, Norwegian, Russian, and Japanese alike.

        If I ever need to make a fifth account I'm probably gonna switch over to counting in yan-tan-tethera, so feel free to start counting me when you have trouble sleeping.

      • Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]
        ·
        28 days ago

        Despite the keyboard literally having "thumb" in its name, I normally type with my dominant index finger, holding my phone with my non-dominant hand. Not that I type on my phone very often to begin with, but I wonder if typing with my whole arm might hinder straining...

        • TrashGoblin [he/him, they/them]
          ·
          28 days ago

          It works really well for that, too! And that's how I used MessageEase when I started using it, but following MessageEase threads on the Colemak forum, I discovered how fast I could type with it using both thumbs.