What about Hegel exercises or Kegel dialectics though?

I prefer bagels

There is a simple test to determine if you're a tankie, specifically.

1. Did Tiananmen Square happen? Specifically, was it bloody, consented/orchestrated by the CCP leadership, and resulted in the deaths of unarmed civilian protesters?

2. Was it wrong that it happened?

If both answers are yes, you're not a tankie. You believe that oppressive regimes are evil regardless of which side of the political spectrum it spawns from.

Bonus points if you think Stalin was anything but benevolent. If you think his methods were "tough, but firm," then you're a tankie.

In 1700s Europe the people in power were the nobility (the descendants of feudal aristocrats) and the clergy (the church). Their claim to power (legitimacy) was that God willed it, and also they had the biggest army ("ultima ratio regum").

Liberalism arose from "enlightenment thought" and basically said that all humans are equal, therefore state legitimacy comes from the consent of the people, and therefore there should be a set of laws that guarantees everyone's rights and gives everyone a say in how society should be run. Some subjects (such as religion) belong to a "private sphere" that the state has no say in and is therefore beyond politics. State power should be minimal and tightly regulated through mechanisms such as the bill of rights or the separation of powers. This ideology was the foundation of the US independence and the French revolution. The political thinkers most emblematic of it are John Locke and Montesquieu.

The people who gained most from erasing the special place in society of the nobility and the clergy ("abolishing the privileges") were people who were rich but not part of these organisations, that is to say merchants and industrialists. Leftism was born out of the "social question" : everyone having the same rights is cool but the richer in society clearly benefit more while the poorer are unable to make use of these "rights" (for instance having the right to a trial does you no good if you can't afford a lawyer ; or being allowed vacation days is pointless if you can't afford to stop working). It is somewhat at odds with liberalism, because solving the social question might require to break some rules of liberalism (most notably state non-intervention, private property, and separation of powers). The most emblematic political thinker here is Karl Marx.

Some leftists theorized the state should be violently overthrown in order to install themselves as dictators and therefore solve the social question by directly redistributing wealth to the poorest. The most important of these is Lenin, who took over the government of Russia in 1917, turning it into the Soviet Union. However he soon died and passed power to Stalin, who cemented his dictatorship and took over a number of countries through military force. When some of these countries (most notably Hungary in 1956) tried to rebel, the Soviet government sent in their army. Thus "tankie" is an insult ― it means one who excuses the brutality of the Soviet government, or more generally the usage of force by a leftist power. It mostly means the same as "stalinist".

Meanwhile, in the US people were divided on how much state power was acceptable to use. The democratic party used state power to fix the economy during the great depression (Roosevelt), then fight racism during the civil rights era (Johnson) ; today a part of society aligned with the democratic party wishes to use state power to fight sexism and other social issues, therefore being closer to the leftist view. The word "liberal" in US parlance came to mean those people, who today call themselves progressives, and the "liberals" I referred to earlier are sometimes referred to as "classical liberals" in order to avoid confusion.

I hope this clears things up

a liberal is probably your average usa democrat that is considered conservative by european standards

a leftist is anyone that democrat might consider too radical (like bernie sanders who, for a lot of leftists, might just barely be considered leftist)

edit: i’m being downvoted - am i wrong? i was under the impression that this was the difference between a liberal and a leftist

Liberal is used differently in different places, which causes a lot of the confusion. Kind of like how conservative sometimes means resistant to change and sometimes means regressive depending on who has adopted the label.

The oversimplified pattern that I see for a linear political spectrum, which is too simplified to be accurate when one gets into the weeds but easier to explain conceptually is:

Leftist -- Liberal -- Centrist -- Conservative -- Far Right

In the US liberals are called leftists by the conservatives who are actually the far right because our overall spectrum is shifted pretty far to the right. Centrists aren't really in the middle as much as they are trying to appease both sides. Again, this is very oversimplified but when you hear that liberals aren't really leftists they are basically saying that liberals are not nearly as far left as they claim to be.

If you were a tankie you'd open your comment with a 7 paragraph on why you're not a tankie, followed by a dissertation that would make a HD2 autocannon proud by deflecting so much

I came here for funny memes and shitposts. Now I've got to answer for choosing the wrong instance because apparently it is run by tank enthusiasts who we all hate for reasons I don't understand.

The world sucks right now. People on Lemmy are very aware of what's going on and are rightfully upset and that reflects in general sentiment and interactions.

It's not just you. People will wilfully misinterpret what I'm saying to their liking, sometimes accusing me of nonsense. Some others will jump in out of nowhere as if I owe them money. I have some asshole in my notifications right now trying to defend another asshole for some reason. The best part is how I'm the one getting downvoted for defending myself and calling them out on it.

As a relative newcomer, I've felt and read a lot of hostility on Lemmy. Reddit felt smug, but not unfriendly.

it's probably just getting more popular

It's Bazzite BTW now

Actually, here is what you guys don't understand about Hegels dialectics:

The HVAC system you choose for your home is a big decision.

no u