• davel@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Another ironic example of Westerners not understanding what tank man was actually doing: stopping the tanks from leaving Tianmanmen Square. He was doing the opposite of an act of defiance against government involvement; he wanted them to be involved. Also, he left the scene unscathed when other civilians came and scurried him away: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq8zFLIftGk

    Maybe Western media always show us a cropped version of the tank man photo, with Tianmanmen Square removed, because it doesn’t fit in with their narrative.

    [Edit to replace deleted YouTube video.]

    • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Jesus fucking christ. I watched this shit happen. I watched the uncut footage air. That man was fucking pissed. He kept blocking the tanks while absolutely losing his shit screaming at the tank. Neither of us was there so neither of us knows why or what he was screaming but it was most definitely a clear act of defiance. You cannot in any way say that he was asking them to “go back” and “stay involved”.

      Here is the footage.

      https://media.gettyimages.com/id/450068672/video/a-lone-man-stops-a-convoy-of-tanks-during-the-tiananmen-square-protests-in-beijing-1989.mp4?s=mp4-640x640-gi&k=20&c=CCERCYPtGDpeNsNsDmVMA5LAovD-byP0E_f4d1oHzgA%3D

      • davel@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        That’s just a shorter version of the video I posted. And I don’t think the full footage ever aired on TV, because it’s around ten or twenty minutes long, mostly of him on top of the tank having a conversation with the crew.

    • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      There’s a lot of misinformation about this event, which was formally acknowledged by the USA fairly recently. He did leave unharmed, I was surprised to hear anybody thought otherwise. However, you are stretching credulity by claiming he was pro-government. Seeing as he was never located, I can at least concede that neither of us know what he was thinking at the time.

    • DrFistington@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The video you linked to says that the footage was spliced together from a 2006 documentary aired by PBS, here’s a summary

      The Incident: On June 5, 1989, a day after the Chinese army violently suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, an unarmed man, later known as “Tank Man,” stood his ground in front of a line of tanks on the Avenue of Eternal Peace.

      Iconic Image: Captured by Western journalists, this image became a powerful symbol of defiance and the struggle for freedom worldwide.

      Documentary’s Focus: The FRONTLINE documentary, “The Tank Man,” explores the events surrounding the Tiananmen Square protests, the identity of “Tank Man,” and the significance of his act of defiance. Filmmaker’s Investigation:

      • davel@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        You don’t know where they were going any more than I do. All we know is they were leaving the Square, and he was standing to stop them. We don’t know what conversation he had with the person in the tank (that part of the video was clipped out, presumably for brevity, because it goes on for several minutes).