this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2025
348 points (96.0% liked)
MeanwhileOnGrad
1953 readers
68 users here now
"Oh, this is calamity! Calamity! Oh no, he's on the floor!"
Welcome to MoG!
Meanwhile On Grad
Documenting hate speech, conspiracy theories, apologia/revisionism, and general tankie behaviour across the fediverse. Memes are welcome!
What is a Tankie?
(caution of biased source)
Basic Rules:
Sh.itjust.works Instance rules apply! If you are from other instances, please be mindful of the rules. — Basically, don't be a dick.
Hate-Speech — You should be familiar with this one already; practically all instances have the same rules on hate speech.
Apologia — (Using the Modern terminology for Apologia) No Defending, Denying, Justifying, Bolstering, or Differentiating authoritarian acts or endeavours, whether be a Pro-CCP viewpoint, Stalinism, Islamic Terrorism or any variation of Tankie Ideology.
Revisionism — No downplaying or denying atrocities past and present. Calling Tankies shills, foreign/federal agents, or bots also falls under this rule. Extremists exist. They are real. Do not call them shills or fake users as it handwaves their extremism.
Tankies can explain their views but may be criticised or attacked for them. Any slight infraction on the rules above will immediately earn a warning and possibly a ban.
Off-topic Discussion — Do not discuss unrelated topics to the point of derailing the thread. Stay focused on the direct content of the post as opposed to arguing.
You'll be warned if you're violating the instance and community rules. Continuing poor behaviour after being warned will result in a ban or removal of your comments. Bans typically only last 24 hours, but each subsequent infraction will double the amount. Depending on the content, the ban time may be increased. You may request an unban at any time.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I wouldn't say the Russia's shitholeness has to do with westernisation. But, I can guess what was meant.
When the Russia became capitalist, almost nobody had any idea of the value of property. The factories became private property of their workers, but there could have been 1000 workers in a factory and people were like "what the hell am I gonna do with a paper proving that I own 0.1 % of a factory?!"
And then there were people who were driving around with a van full of vodka bottles. You handed out a bottle of vodka, you got a share. So, a full factory cost you one thousand bottles of vodka, and that's it. Or actually, 501 bottles of vodka, because a majority was enough. And even less, because most people didn't come to the meetings to vote, so you didn't really need more than a handful of shares to start making decisions that helped you gain a lot more influence.
The Russians thought that if they just have capitalism, then everything will soon be good. And Europe and USA were okay with that rather moronic thought, not really doing much anything to warn them that they are about to crash head first against a wall. Also, I think that especially in USA there were people interested in seeing what happens if a country tries to go fully capitalist with no state controls whatsoever.
It's a bit bonkers saying that is "westernization", as there are many western countries and only one actually has a system even somewhat like that of USA. So, maybe you could say that the Russia is a shithole because of americanisation (one done horribly badly), and that's almost surely what was meant with "because of westernisation".
But indeed: In the 1990's people in the Russia did those stupid decisions because they wanted to become a part of the west. And that failed. And instead of looking at what had gone wrong, the majority there just decided: "It's the west's fault! They did this to us!"
In year 1998 there was a huge amount of inflation, and basically, if you had enough money on your bank account to buy a house in January 1998, in December 1998 you were barely able to buy a loaf of bread with that money, as all money in the Russia lost something like 99.999% of its value in 1998. That was a horrible time, and the only year more horrible than that in the history of the Russia is 2026 (or maybe 2027).