• OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    19 hours ago

    There’s no faster way to get called a tankie than opposing the construction of more tanks.

    Opposing the construction of more tanks necessarily means arguing that those tanks are unnecessary. Arguing that tanks are unnecessary means arguing that the supposed threats our rulers want us to be afraid of are not as significant as they’d have us believe. And if you’re arguing that an “enemy” country is not as much of a threat as our rulers claim, then it’s trivial for someone to accuse you of minimizing the threat because you actually support the enemy.

    This is how it’s always been. I opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from the start. Back then, instead of “tankie” they called you “terrorist sympathizer.” People who opposed the wars in Vietnam and Korea were called “reds” or “pinkos.” Those who opposed WWI were accused of being “Bolsheviks.” Some dude once criticized Rome’s violence and was accused of plotting violent insurrection and got executed for it. Same shit, different day.

      • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        11 hours ago

        I don’t want to go to war with any country. I am also willing to refute misinformation about any country. Those two things constitute 99% of what “defending” means in this context.

        Why limit yourself to China? Just say, “In North Korea the government forces everyone to eat each other’s brains and we need to invade to get them to stop,” I’ll say that’s not true and we shouldn’t, and now you can attack me for “defending North Korea.” Surely there’s worse countries than China out there for you to pick from.

        • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 hours ago

          I picked China from skimming your comment history. Have you defended North Korea? jfc

          Discredit the truth by burying it in lies. China did take Hong Kong and suppress protesters against their will. Same with Tibet. They want Taiwan but going after that right now could give Trump a just war and they’d rather see the US shoot itself in the foot in the international space. The more extreme stuff against China may just be propaganda that China itself credit to discredit the more reasonable claims. The same way that the US government spread rumors about aliens at Area 51 to discredit the sighting of spyplane testing.

    • thermal_shock@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      16 hours ago

      I guess I’m a tankie then. Fuck the wars, fuck this administration, we need education and healthcare more than anything. We need a government that supports its own people rather than trying to obliterate all others.