western tankies especially can be very weird

Right, and they call anyone who disagrees with them, even actual communists, "McCarthyists" 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Seriously though, anyone who sees any reason whatsoever for communists to support the Iranian government mustn't have a single fucking clue what communism is about.. They're a fucking joke (if only they didn't go around giving leftists such a bad name)..

That's a fantastic, and not at all surprising piece of information though, thanks for sharing!

Tankies are people who claim to be communists, but who exclusively support authoritarians and their oppressive regimes, past and present, because these authoritarians call themselves communists (think believing Nazis were socialists because it was in their party name), even though their actions have nothing at all to do with communism, and fascists co-opting leftist language to gain power being a well documented phenomenon.

It's pretty easy to tell really: if a project is/was stateless, classless, and moneyless - congratulations, it's almost certainly communism, and those who support it are communists (or possibly one of several varieties of anarchist, like myself).

However if one or any of those conditions aren't met, and/or there is a single dictator or a small group of cronies holding on to power claiming they've been met, but the reality is clearly different - congratulations, you basically have run of the mill fascism on your hands and those who support it are tankies (who, as I pointed out in OP, almost always speak up and in defence of a "dear leader" but never in defence of the people themselves, because all they care about is the regime, not the people living under it).

In the case of the fediverse, there are a couple of dedicated instances almost exclusively occupied by tankies, who have made it their goal to essentially troll and brigade anyone who doesn't agree with their, frankly bizarre, views (calling it "dialectics" to make themselves feel better). They're generally easy to avoid though, by blocking individuals, or their entire instance.

God forbid a woman shows their hair, am I right?

Alright, I'll bite.

How are people misinterpreting the Khamenei regime's human rights issues (particularly against women)? And by "people" I, of course, mean orgs like Amnesty International.

Here is some "propaganda" for you to refute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Iran

Wanna ask Mahsa Amini about that? Oh, you can't because she got killed for not covering her hair?

Brutal, isn't it?

he says while looking into a mirror

Decided to glance into your comment history and phew, you are one angry little individual.

BUT maybe you have your reasons, many of us do. However, it's important to be angry for the right reasons, at the right people.

Yeah, imagine being you.

Awww, are you sad the butcher of tehran finally met his end? Have you ever talked to any Iranian about the IRR?