this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2024
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Oh, the lion's share of the blame belongs to them, absolutely.
They influence voters, who influence US foreign policy. The increasing hostility on the left (or what passes for it in the US) is very much fueled by online left spaces where such fascist talking points are tolerated or celebrated. Communism isn't as unpopular as it was for my parents' and grandparents' generation, and with that broader shift comes the possibility (and reality) of radicalism and sheer edgy fucking stupidity getting ahold of a minority of those shifting. Approximately 30% of Gen Z (and 27% of my gen, Millennials) has a positive view of Marxism (which is great!). If we assume only 10% of them are dumb enough to buy into tankie talking points, that's still some 6 million people.
You ever see Tankies outside of Lemmy or old CTH on reddit? Because Ive been organizing since my 20s and met just one in real life. I would be flabbergasted if there were more than 1% of the figures you pointed out were tankies, let alone 10%. Also tankies don't believe in voting and are still dwarfed by other sources of misinformation. The tankies make themselves nice and loud, they're very easy to ignore. Unlike the types of propaganda that get injected into Meta platforms and Twitter. I still think you're swinging at ghosts because its easy to do.
Lets say tomorrow there are no more tankies, they magically never existed in the english speaking world, what actually changes for the US?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2018/04/04/only-two-thirds-of-american-millennials-believe-the-earth-is-round/?sh=e7dd4067ec66
Theres more flat earther Millennials than tankies by either estimation we use too. Can't wait for them to influence foreign policy.
I said 'buy into tankie talking points'. The point isn't that the 10% (itself just a random number, of course) are tankies, but that 10% are influenced by the shite that tankies spread.
Although I would emphasize that there is a certain percentage of people who are batshit insane on any given issue, and some 10% of Americans are tolerant of fascism. 10% of Gen Z going tankie instead doesn't seem that far-fetched to me.
This is true, but as mentioned, it's not even about them, specifically - but what effects they have on discourse.
Yeah, if I was in charge of a NGO dedicated to combating misinformation or something I wouldn't be dedicating many resources to tankies specifically.
Support for Ukraine increases by 2%-3% points as a very loud (as you note) minority is no longer amplifying misinformation and propaganda under the guise of combating the absolutely fucked state of our society.
I'm glad my posting offers you some relief! I like to remind myself now and again that most people on here are sensible sorts.