After seeing a megathread praising Mao Zedong, an actual mass killer, and a post about a guy saying “99% of westerners are 100000000000% sure they know what happened in ‘Tiny Man Square’ […] the reasons for this are complex and involve propaganda […],” I am genuinely curious what leads people to this belief system. Even if propaganda is involved when it comes to Tiananmen Square, it doesn’t change the atrocities that were/are committed everywhere else in China.
I am all for letting people believe what they want but I am lost on why one would deliberately praise any authoritarian system this hard.
Can someone please help me understand why this is such a large and prominent community? How have these ideals garnered such a following outside of China?
How do people fall into any mindset. Scientology is more wacky but also way more prolific than Tankies. Why do you have a hard time wrapping your mind around Tankies if something even crazier exists.
Tiananmen square is one of those things Tankies are generally correct about. There was no massacre, but they also fail to realize there could have been one if things had gone differently that day.
They use this as a decent proof that Western propaganda is lies. Of course it is, so is China’s propaganda. There are no good guys. As someone who discovered the awful truth of the US early on I spent a lot of time contemplating alternatives.
I could see how if I had stopped studying and just landed on the “West is wrong” I could have adopted many of their views. I didn’t though, I kept digging.
As other posters point out they are not really large. They also hit above their weight with their constant pushing of propaganda along with many alts and suppressive behavior on their instance. This is why I found them so distasteful. Their admins were outright abusive. I blocked a few and that solved 99% of the problem.
scientology is a pure grifting “religion” made by a guy that dint like to pay taxes on his books.
We’re acutely aware of what would have happened if Gene Sharp, the CIA, and the goons they armed, funded, and trained had been successful.
The blueprint of regime change operations How regime change happens in the 21st century with your consent
Always in denial.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/24/rare-footage-from-trial-of-chinese-general-who-defied-tiananmen-crackdown-order-leaked-online
While the US might be the worst in history China is no slouch. MSS is just like the CIA and is responsible for countless violations of human rights.
The only real leg to stand on is they are not as prolific as the US. Considering they pumped out more billionaires than the US this year and have fully embraced fascism I think they are well on their way.
I have no idea what you think that proves or disproves about the straw man argument in your head.
That because of one person’s decision less bloodshed happened and that the government did order troops to a peaceful protest.
Not sure why you are so butthurt about the truth.
I’m not? The truth is what happened, not what might have happened. As for what might have happened, there would have been no violence at all if US hadn’t been there to instigate it.
Because the communist party was so peaceful.
Like when they starved 150,000+ of their citizens to death in the Siege of Changchun?
Maybe their rebels had real reasons and not just western propaganda. Good thing I don’t need to defend any superpower.
You’re right, they should have just laid down arms and let the fascist KMT slaughter them and run the country like Mussolini or Hirohito might have.
There’s no maybe about it. You can read and hear their real reasons: they wrote them down and recorded them on tape. Go find them and see who & what you’re trying to defend.
Hand waves hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths away. I guess I should be grateful we aren’t comparing to the US.
Strange they fought so hard against fascists just to become one themselves?
When you buy into a nation’s propaganda you might as well just check out of any rational conversation about them.
On a side note, Happy New Years! Cheers