# Roger Waters is a tankie **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 7, 2022, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234 "2022-08-07T05:05:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/21 "2022-08-07T14:13:53Z")
Regardless of what some old crusty boomer rocker says, I must say it’s quite ironic for @Smapti, of all posters, to call someone else a tankie. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/22 "2022-08-07T14:35:01Z")
Can he go on tour with Eric Clapton so I can efficiently avoid both? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/23 "2022-08-07T15:40:50Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > I LOVE Pink Floyd so much! Yeah, I’ve known Roger was an asshole for a while, but I wish he’d quit proving it. I saw his tour in the 90s and all he talked about was Amnesty International. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/24 "2022-08-07T16:09:15Z")
He’s pretty much been an arsehole his entire life. His song writing and composing is excellent, bordering on genius, but he appears to be a bit of a dickhead. I find it somewhat weird that someone who wrote most of The Final Cut and all of Radio Chaos & Amused to Death would support facism, though. I just thought he was a liberal arsehole. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/25 "2022-08-07T16:32:46Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > This doesn’t seem as hypocritical as Eric Clapton not wanting to inject who knows what into his veins, and was therefore anti-COVID-vaccination. Clapton thinks that people who’ve gotten vaccinated against Covid-19 are under the influence of “mass formation hypnosis”. 🤪 But don’t forget Clapton’s antivax sidekick Van Morrison, [who’s gone even deeper down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole](https://www.yahoo.com/video/happened-van-morrison-fall-eccentric-215325922.html). I’ve referred on other occasions to Emeritus Syndrome, where formerly respected scientists who’ve been put out to pasture embrace increasingly bizarre theories in fields in which they lack expertise - Kary Mullis and William Shockley, for instance. There should be a similar category for aging ex-rock stars who’ve lost their grip. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/26 "2022-08-07T17:00:43Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I’ve referred on other occasions to Emeritus Syndrome, where formerly respected scientists who’ve been put out to pasture embrace increasingly bizarre theories in fields in which they lack expertise - Kary Mullis and William Shockley, for instance. I thought Linus Pauling was the poster child for this. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/27 "2022-08-07T17:03:32Z")
Waters has pretty much always been an asshole, hasn’t he? We’re talking about a man who tried to unilaterally dissolve Pink Floyd because he thought the band was a “spent force creatively,” but then proceeded to spend the majority of the rest of his career, right up to today, making a living performing Pink Floyd music. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/28 "2022-08-07T17:13:01Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I find it somewhat weird that someone who wrote most of The Final Cut and all of Radio Chaos & Amused to Death would support facism, though. Why? He’s been opposed to the western establishment his whole life. Putin’s Russia is also opposed to the western establishment, and therefore, in his eyes, they’re on the same side. That’s what happens when you define yourself by what you’re against instead of what you’re for. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/29 "2022-08-07T17:19:42Z")
He has also long been accused of anti-Israel criticism that crossed the line to antisemitism, so his new found love for Putin doesn’t surprise me. Everyone knows he’s always been an asshole, his artistic merits notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/30 "2022-08-07T17:23:08Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I find it somewhat weird that someone who wrote most of The Final Cut and all of Radio Chaos & Amused to Death would support facism, though. It does seem as though Putin should be on the guest list for The Fletcher Memorial Home. > [@Alessan](#): > > He’s been opposed to the western establishment his whole life. Putin’s Russia is also opposed to the western establishment, and therefore, in his eyes, they’re on the same side. That’s what happens when you define yourself by what you’re against instead of what you’re for. I suspect you’re correct that this is what’s happening _now_, but it’s not as though he has always favored fascist bullies just because they are in opposition to the Western establishment. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/31 "2022-08-07T17:24:35Z")
Non BBQ-ish side note: Michael Smerconish is a big classic/prog rock fan and a Deadhead as well. He’s had some great one-on-one conversations with people like Peter Frampton and the members of Yes. [Here he is taking on Rick Wakeman in a round of Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6TWvO9qDHU&t=186s). ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/32 "2022-08-07T17:25:12Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Why? He’s been opposed to the western establishment his whole life. Putin’s Russia is also opposed to the western establishment, and therefore, in his eyes, they’re on the same side. That’s what happens when you define yourself by what you’re against instead of what you’re for. Yes, this. He’s no better than any Trumper who thinks that the world is only black and white with no shades of grey. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/33 "2022-08-07T20:00:39Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > He’s been opposed to the western establishment his whole life. Putin’s Russia is also opposed to the western establishment, and therefore, in his eyes, they’re on the same side. Aka, textbook “tankie.” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/34 "2022-08-07T20:18:30Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Aka, textbook “tankie.” Well, not exactly. The textbook meaning is a socialist/communist who supports an authoritarian version of socialism/communism. So it would be textbook in his support of China, but not of Putin (unless he hasn’t noticed that Russia is no longer even nominally socialist). ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/35 "2022-08-07T22:40:22Z")
The guy who did the awful 1970s hit “Playground In My Mind” now performs in Vegas, and also uses the stage as a platform to promote the awareness of colon cancer and screenings, because his baseline screening caught a very deadly type at stage zero. KISS drummer Peter Criss also uses his fame to raise awareness of male breast cancer, a disease that he, like most men, did not know existed until he got it. That kind of thing, I’m OK with. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/36 "2022-08-08T00:05:47Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > > [@Cervaise](#): > > > > Aka, textbook “tankie.” > > Well, not exactly. The textbook meaning is a socialist/communist who supports an authoritarian version of socialism/communism. So it would be textbook in his support of China, but not of Putin (unless he hasn’t noticed that Russia is no longer even nominally socialist). Eh, I can see how in the absence of an “international socialist” foil to the “Western bourgeois-liberal capitalist” sphere, the term can get transposed to those who will justify repressive actions and aggressions because somehow they were “provoked” by Western hegemonism. Waters apparently looks at what happens in Ukraine and above all sees not aggression and freedom fighters but just _war profiteers_ finding the next place to make their money and sell their wares and waste ordinary lives after Afghanistan closed, when the West could have just backed off and let Russia keep their “sphere of influence” unbothered (and fuck what the Ukranians, Poles, Estonians, etc. felt about it, Rog?). ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/37 "2022-08-08T00:12:13Z")
Well, sure. I wasn’t suggesting that it’s anything other than a natural broadening of meaning. I was commenting on the original “textbook” meaning that it’s a broadening _from_. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/38 "2022-08-08T02:43:46Z")
if I remember right waters was pretty much raised as a communist according to what Ive seen in various bios as his mother was in what passed for the UK communist party although i think she dedicated her life to “subversive” public service like teaching immigrants how to read and vote and such things … ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/39 "2022-08-08T03:13:34Z")
Full interview is up on youtube: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/iZsRj3_iDfM/maxresdefault.jpg "Roger Waters Uncut. The full interview with Michael Smerconish recorded in Philadelphia, PA - 8/4/22") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZsRj3_iDfM) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/40 "2022-08-08T03:40:36Z")
Tankie? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234.md?page=3)