It's both overused in the way you describe and yet obscure enough that only terminally-online political people have even heard of it.

Back when I used reddit it seemed like everyone threw around Fascist in a similar way. Lemmy seems to prefer Tankie. For a lot of people the thinking doesn't go any farther than "I disagree with you, therefore you are ________ist" or whatever.

It is what it is.

As I said in another comment, Tankies are often in support of the modern Russian state and the modern CCP. These are not positions that are "left of the DNC".

I, for one, haven't seen people over-using the word "tankie", I haven't seen people getting called tankies for the reason alone that they are leftists or even communists.

However, I've seen many tankies insisting that the word is meaningless or that it just means anybody on the left.

People I've seen using the word tankie have been surprisingly consistent about who they call a tankie: supporters of authoritarianism, especially Putin and the CCP.

thank you for that and the "what is socialism" post; but i'm encountering that theory is somehow still HEAVY read for someone like who me has been inside the leftist sphere of influence for his entire life; there's needs to be some sort of sound-bite-able way of sharing these messages and i wish that ml's had the capitalists' deep pockets that guarantees a deep bench of talent that could figure something like this out.

it reminds of my own own experience of going from technical support to software engineering by simply reading. your ignorance makes it daunting as first and you have to put in A LOT of effort to understand it when you don't even know the basics and you'll get there eventually if you stick with it; but most won't stick with it and if you're REALLY knowledgeable at it, it becomes difficult to understand why it's difficult for other people.

The word "tankie" originated as the OP describes, referring to members of the Communist Party of Great Britain that supported the USSR putting down the color revolutions in Hungary and Prague Spring. Nowadays, it is used as a catch-all pejorative for anyone to the left of the DNC.

It’s not shilling, it’s nuance. American main stream thinking is full of lies about both China and Russia. And both conservatives and liberals HATE when people don’t fall in line.

Communists support the PRC as a Socialist state run by Marxist-Leninists, yes. No Communist supports the Russian Federation outright, however, only reserved, temporary, and highly critical support for Russia's anti-US Hegemony stance, which it only adopts for its own survival and not out of any moral superiority. No Communist "shills" for the Russian Federation.

Or someone who slightly disagrees with a republican

While your points are true, here is an interesting and recommended reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

this is the most appropriate "both sides" argument i've ever seen.

"Yes, the USSR performed atrocities, but the fact that the west has as well excuses that."

It's not like those are the only two instances of human rights violations by the USSR, and they're infamous for lying about numbers.

Misery is not s competition. You don't have to pick sides. There can be more than one violent authoritarian regime in the world, they can all be bad, and you can oppose all of them. There's really no reason to defend any imperial powers.