Hi, all: Just Andy this time, with a Thursday edition bonus episode, in which I talk with Brian Hioe of New Bloom, a bilingual online magazine with radical analysis of Taiwan and East Asia. On Monday, New Bloom published an explainer essay on the very confusing phenomenon of “tankies,”
As an anti-CCP progressive who grew up in mainland China, I used to have a hard time wrapping my head around the existence of tankies: It baffled me that people who grew up in the West with democracy and rule of law (as imperfect as they are) would unironically support an authoritarian one-party state. Thank you for helping me understand their perspective! This was a very insightful episode.
IMO, the phenomenon described in that paper--the affinity of anti-CCP Chinese liberals with Trump--is almost like the inverse of this tankie-ism you guys just discussed. It's really fascinating.
thanks josh, very heartened to hear your impressions! and thanks for the rec.
-- andy
As an anti-CCP progressive who grew up in mainland China, I used to have a hard time wrapping my head around the existence of tankies: It baffled me that people who grew up in the West with democracy and rule of law (as imperfect as they are) would unironically support an authoritarian one-party state. Thank you for helping me understand their perspective! This was a very insightful episode.
Also, if it's not too much to ask, could you invite the author of this paper to come onto the pod? (https://twitter.com/dikaioslin/status/1262420410123071488?s=20)
IMO, the phenomenon described in that paper--the affinity of anti-CCP Chinese liberals with Trump--is almost like the inverse of this tankie-ism you guys just discussed. It's really fascinating.