this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2025
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Liberals will kick and scream about the fascism of Tianamen without stopping to ask why the Tank Driver stopped and even tried to drive around Tank Man without success.
The idea that an American civilian could survive getting that close to a military vehicle - that this kind of protest wouldn't be used to justify his murder - is utterly alien to the Western brain.
So much of this image is pregnant with what Americans understand a US police officer would do to an unarmed protester. You'll never see pictures of what happened next, because it flies in the face of the narrative.
Where is Tank Man now? I bet he's a celebrated civil rights icon who freely walks the streets, right? I did see some reporting suggesting he was executed by firing squad but that can't be right.
Nobody knows his identity or whereabouts. Nobody knows what happened to the soldiers who stopped either.
And thats probably intentionally so, to avoid martyrdom if hes dead. Or to protect his life if he's not.
And that in itself is a very powerful part of the story.