Part of it may be that “tankie” comes from UK political discourse (originally used as an insult from members of the UK Communist Party who wanted to distance themselves from their crazier members who defended the Soviet Union using tanks against civilians to squash anti-soviet demonstrations).
Since then the term has evolved to mean any westerner that acts as a mouthpiece or apologist for the likes of Russia/China.
It’s possible that what with Russia’s actions as of late, more of the world is being exposed to the term.
The other factor, and one that impacts Lemmy in particular, is that there is a massive tankie presence on Lemmy. In fact the original Lemmy developers were tankies, and lemmy.ml (marxists-lenninist) was their preferred instance. Hexbear is another massive tankie instance.
My guess is that there are two main factors.
Part of it may be that “tankie” comes from UK political discourse (originally used as an insult from members of the UK Communist Party who wanted to distance themselves from their crazier members who defended the Soviet Union using tanks against civilians to squash anti-soviet demonstrations).
Since then the term has evolved to mean any westerner that acts as a mouthpiece or apologist for the likes of Russia/China.
It’s possible that what with Russia’s actions as of late, more of the world is being exposed to the term.
The other factor, and one that impacts Lemmy in particular, is that there is a massive tankie presence on Lemmy. In fact the original Lemmy developers were tankies, and lemmy.ml (marxists-lenninist) was their preferred instance. Hexbear is another massive tankie instance.