I guess there’s the question of whether those on Russian division campaigns could be called “just trolls”, but they aren’t tankies. Tankies have an ideology while the Russian troll farms don’t, other than inflaming anything they possibly can to increase division and get people angry at each other.
would love to know the discerning characteristics that differentiate these populations because holy fuck when I encounter this kind of stuff my brain starts to vomit and nuances kinda get lost
There’s no real specific things that you can use to identify the troll farms.
Tankies are pro-Russia and pro-China (and maybe others?) to the point where they believe the atrocities are justified. The part that is hard to tell about them is more whether they honestly believe that stuff as individuals and whether they are posting on their own free time or because they are hired to do so.
At a high level, they have two different functions (assuming state sponsored troll farms vs state sponsored tankies): tankies generate positive propaganda intended to convince others to support Russia or China. Troll farms generate polarizing propaganda for or against any topic (maybe even including the tankie topic).
Like consider the topic of feminism.
A tankie might approach it as “everyone has a place and is valued” when talking to feminists, or “everyone knows their place and does their duties” if talking to a conservative audience. The intent is to say the area they like is good.
A troll would talk to feminists about how evil men are and how they always cause problems, that they are all together against women. Or to conservatives about how women want to have their cake and eat it too, how feminism is about replacing the patriarchy with a matriarchy, or turning men into women. The intent is to rile up people who are already leaning that way while also making that group look scary to outsiders who see into the echo chamber.
Those are made up examples, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen tankies talking about feminism (though I’d be extremely surprised if I’ve never seen a troll farm conversation about feminism). And often, if the topic isn’t directly related to China or Russia, they aren’t really recognizable and tbh they might actually be troll farms just doing the same thing with the topic of China or Russia… The more I think about it, the more sense it makes because they are more polarizing than effective.
It’s deliberately not easy to follow. That frustrated “it’s too complicated, I give up on even trying to figure this out” is another one of the goals. It’s all about getting people to disengage from each other and fight each other so that there aren’t strong communities, which then compounds the problems even more.
would love to know the discerning characteristics that differentiate these populations because holy fuck when I encounter this kind of stuff my brain starts to vomit and nuances kinda get lost
There’s no real specific things that you can use to identify the troll farms.
Tankies are pro-Russia and pro-China (and maybe others?) to the point where they believe the atrocities are justified. The part that is hard to tell about them is more whether they honestly believe that stuff as individuals and whether they are posting on their own free time or because they are hired to do so.
At a high level, they have two different functions (assuming state sponsored troll farms vs state sponsored tankies): tankies generate positive propaganda intended to convince others to support Russia or China. Troll farms generate polarizing propaganda for or against any topic (maybe even including the tankie topic).
Like consider the topic of feminism.
A tankie might approach it as “everyone has a place and is valued” when talking to feminists, or “everyone knows their place and does their duties” if talking to a conservative audience. The intent is to say the area they like is good.
A troll would talk to feminists about how evil men are and how they always cause problems, that they are all together against women. Or to conservatives about how women want to have their cake and eat it too, how feminism is about replacing the patriarchy with a matriarchy, or turning men into women. The intent is to rile up people who are already leaning that way while also making that group look scary to outsiders who see into the echo chamber.
Those are made up examples, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen tankies talking about feminism (though I’d be extremely surprised if I’ve never seen a troll farm conversation about feminism). And often, if the topic isn’t directly related to China or Russia, they aren’t really recognizable and tbh they might actually be troll farms just doing the same thing with the topic of China or Russia… The more I think about it, the more sense it makes because they are more polarizing than effective.
It’s deliberately not easy to follow. That frustrated “it’s too complicated, I give up on even trying to figure this out” is another one of the goals. It’s all about getting people to disengage from each other and fight each other so that there aren’t strong communities, which then compounds the problems even more.
gish gallop all the way.
appreciate the feedback