For me I think it has to be Russiagate. It’s just become a catch all for centrist libs to refuse to believe anything bad about their team, make up crazy conspiracies about anyone to their left or right, dismiss every contradiction of capitalism as “Russian interference”. It’s maddening. At least the RWNJ conspiracies like Q and the Alex Jones shit are usually pretty funny because of how ridiculous they are, russiagate doesn’t even have that going for it.
What are some other contenders?
The word "tankie" has been weaponized to create as much left infighting as possible.
I got banned from r/completeanarchy for saying Trotsky wasn't as bad as Hitler.
:stalin-shining:
Haha what
Yeah. Today in a thread regarding a meme that featured Stalin, Trotsky, and Mussolini.
What the fuck? Trotsky isn't even Tankie material. Bitches still mad about Kronstadt smh
I've come away with the impression that they think all Russians are dictators.
/r/C@ to lib pipeline?
Sucks. I used to browse that sub and it looked like a safe haven for trotskyists who didn't want to hang out with the scary tankies in r/FC (who hated their guts, actually)
With us it's really a coin toss of whether we associate trotskyists with the POUM or Kronstadt
What? Holy shit? Trotsky? Fucking Trotsky got you banned? I'm an unironic Stalinist but I won't even go so far as to say "Trotsky and Hitler? I see no difference".
As a trotskyist who argues with stalinists, I'm pretty sure that you, as an unironic stalinist, are supposed to pretend that "Stalinism" isn't a thing.
Yup. That's how much someone being banned for upholding Trotsky had triggered me. I'm so mad that I'll become a trotskyist.
As a tankie, I agree with you, the Trotskyist, that Stalinism isn’t a thing
Reading comprehension checks out.
Just response. A community that is in a lib place like reddit has to have easy trigger fingers to survive against the trolls and so called "normies"/libs.
It is an opinion you can express (at best without the Hitler comparision which takes away from the Shoa) easily towards anarchists, but best when drunk at 2am on a party after covid, instead of an public all internet message board.
I think the use of tankie is irrelevant currently, as other material things, like covid, rent, jobs, orgnaizing etc. became more relevant.
I don't think the word its self leads to infighting. Its annoying when people use it wrong or just call EVERYONE tankies.
Maybe I'm not looking at it right though. Do you think there would be less infighting without "tankie" being tossed around?
Yes.
Don't you think there would just be some other term used instead?
The term "tankie" is a Boogeyman. To anarchists, all socialists are tankies. To socdems, anarchists are tankies. The Democrats have learned the word tankie and are using it to refer to all leftists.
It doesn't mean anything, it's just a memetic carrier for leftover McCarthyism.