I'm curious, where do you think so many westerners are exposed to Russian propaganda? Because there are apparently so many victims of it these days, can't turn a corner without someone decrying all these damn Russian and Chinese shill everywhere. So where do we all come from? What exactly did we get exposed to? I know this is the part where you handwave the question away with a "Heh, they got exposed to devious foreign thought on the freaking internet smuglord " but I'm not letting you off that easy. Tell me what you think the actual specific vectors are for all this "Russian and Chinese propaganda" you see everywhere, and how it was apparently able to easily penetrate the absolute haze of American propaganda that all of us in "the west" have been force fed our entire lives.

Please account for this gaping hole in your social theory. Why so many tankies, how, and why now?

[–] PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de -2 points 4 days ago (43 children)

Funny, I was just telling @Cowbee about how the tankies I see on here are insufferable & impossible to converse with.

But I'll bite. First of all, I don't appreciate the strawmen. I'm not saying that there is a lot of tankies, nor that they are here now suddenly. I'm not denying that US/Western propaganda doesn't exist, nor that it's dangerous and pervasive.

I'm just saying that I, myself, in my own experience, have seen people shilling for China or even Russia, acting like it's a fucking utopia. Russia an oligarchy, just with a different structure than most Western countries. China is a government that rules over billions of people. That is, by definition, evil. No amount of America Bad makes China or Russia good.

In terms of propaganda sources, for example just take a look at Russia Today.

[–] TheOubliette@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Funny, I was just telling @Cowbee about how the tankies I see on here are insufferable & impossible to converse with.

I would say the people here are being very patient with you, as you are spreading xenophobic views out of ignorance and recycled imperialist think tank talking points while also being condescending. You don't get pushback on that by liberals because they agree with you but anyone on the left would be embarrassed to be associated with it.

The appropriate response for someone not generously giving you their time would be to call you, among other things, a liberal and then go on with their day.

But I'll bite. First of all, I don't appreciate the strawmen. I'm not saying that there is a lot of tankies, nor that they are here now suddenly

Liberals suddenly learned the word tankie. Why do you think that is? Rather than a straw man, I understood this as a fact we could all accept.

I'm just saying that I, myself, in my own experience, have seen people shilling for China or even Russia, acting like it's a fucking utopia.

What tankies have you seen that treat Russia like a utopia? What tankies have you seen that treat China like a utopia? I think you are just revealing your owm straw men, and all you have seen is people appreciating asoects of either country. And by the magic of chauvinism, any praise for any aspect of "the enemy" is an uncritical endorsement. Liberals going down this path will often throw in some homophobic ibsults about Putin or Xi.

Russia an oligarchy, just with a different structure than most Western countries.

Russia is capitalist. It is only called an oligarchy because Westerners are racist towards them and need different words for the same thing when the Slavic brainpan does it. This is you uncritically absorbing that racism. They control our thoughts through language, framings, and what is discussed vs. not discussed.

China is a government that rules over billions of people. That is, by definition, evil.

It obviously is not.

No amount of America Bad makes China or Russia good.

America Bad both describes the position of the US as the globsl seat of capital and imperislist power and is intended to get people like yourself to have sone persoective, as you are deeply propagandized towards America-centrism.

In terms of propaganda sources, for example just take a look at Russia Today.

RT is, generally speaking, more reliable that the NYT. So what of it?

[–] PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Again apologies for skimming, you are writing a lot.

I would say the people here are being very patient with you

I agree

Russia is capitalist. It is only called an oligarchy because

You misunderstood me. I'm saying that the US is an oligarchy as well.

you are spreading xenophobic views out of ignorance and recycled imperialist think tank talking points while also being condescending

the first part is your opinion, and the second part is not true. I'm not being condescending, and I'm being equally patient replying to people who are just trolling

RT is, generally speaking, more reliable that the NYT

If you have to compare RT to the NYT, that says more than enough

[–] TheOubliette@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 days ago

You misunderstood me. I’m saying that the US is an oligarchy as well.

Every capitalist country is an oligarchy. The term is used selectively for Russia, and you have specifically focused on its use re: Russia in this discussion.

the first part is your opinion

My correct opinion. Do you believe you are the first baby leftist I've come across that harbors these kinds of views? I am always part of the political education group in any org I am in. We have to root people out who are very confident in their chauvinism and isolate them from the others in some way, as they are very disruptive on top of being wrong. This is also why various baby-leftist-only spaces are so completely useless, they spend their time chasing phantoms and fighting people that do good work. This is also why the feds have historically supported Trotskyists and certain anarchist formations.

and the second part is not true.

It is true, I know where these claims come from. I recognize them.

I’m not being condescending, and I’m being equally patient replying to people who are just trolling

You are repeatedly broad-brushing "tankies" with bullshit and placing yourself in a position to argue with others despite clearly not doing the work of learning about the topic first. A cool guy once said, "no investigation, no right to speak".

If you have to compare RT to the NYT, that says more than enough

I don't know what that means.

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