I actually became more “tankie” from questioning WHY I was skeptical of western media and liberalism. I originally was on board condemning China for Hong Kong and the Uighur situation not so long ago but after seeing HK protestors wave the US and UK flag I became extremely jaded and sought out my own information. I didn’t even know any socialist sources so I only looked at mainstream western sources. Eventually I came across pictures of HK protestors meeting with US ambassadors and politicians - some of them were republicans - and thought it was totally bullshit.

If you are very naive and detached from reality and history you could even make a devil's argument about the US image as "world police" and how maybe getting their attention is the best way to get things to happen even if the outcome is uncertain, roll the accelerationism dice etc. It is a shit argument but you could make it.

But then you see this.

Hong Kong Protesters Love Pepe the Frog. No, They’re Not Alt-Right.

Your favorite lib news source making excuses for why an alt-right symbol isn't an alt-right symbol. US flags alone could fool someone naive enough, but a very online specific, western specific alt-right symbol should be enough to prove there is nothing organic or left-wing about those protests.