He was some random guy who got pulled away by bystanders in a period before mass surveillance was possible and when everyone involved was really fucking tired of all the fighting and wanted to go home and rest. What racist brainworm is piloting your body to make you say shit like “he was probably executed?” What evidence leads you to that conclusion? Check yourself.
I mean, if they did catch him, it’d make a whole lot of sense to remove any possibility of him further embarrassing the state by becoming a western propaganda mouthpiece, and you’ve got to remember this was a very extreme, near-existential crisis where radical measures were taken in response. Other leaders were also executed too, though after trials as far as I’m aware.
Not saying it happened, and we’ll never know either way, but it’s not a completely outlandish idea that the MSS would just off him had they found him.
There is nothing that suggests he was anything more than a random passer-by (as evidenced by the shopping bags he was carrying). And an elderly one at that. That means he was very likely not part of the student protests, and certainly not one of its leaders.
If the Chinese government was to arrest and punish someone it would be the leaders/instigators of the color revolution attempt. And they would not simply “disappear” them, they would make sure to put them on trial. That is much more effective at a) exposing them as traitors to the nation and agents of foreign powers, and b) dissuading others from associating with their movement.
Unfortunately, Western intelligence agencies smuggled most of the main leaders/instigators out of the country and subsequently gave them high paying jobs in the West. As for the “tank man”, there is no reason to assume that anything more happened to him than continuing to live his normal life. More than likely he was, as most elderly Chinese people are, extremely patriotic. We do not even know why he wanted to talk to the tank driver.
Please recognize that unfounded and baseless narratives constructed around that footage have been used by anti-China propagandists to drum up sinophobia and anti-communist sentiments. We do not need to be feeding into that with sensationalist speculation. Stick to what is factual and reasonable.
Why isn’t the penalty for blocking traffic a fine? What about community service, or probation? He’s obviously not part of the protests or the militants, since they are several blocks away from Tiannamen Square. Why does your mind immediately jump to execution?
You know deep in your heart why. Confronting racist things you were taught doesn’t make you a bad person—introspection is good!
My mind jumps to that because thats what our propaganda has told us. Obviously. It’s what we are talking about here specifically. Race does not factor in here at ground level.
By what mechanism do you propose he was found and executed? The guy in the tank draws a masterpiece from memory and then the cops go door to door throughout the entire city to find this guy who… climbed on a tank? Really?
If there’s no evidence either way, apply Occams Razor. Less events have to line up for him to just having vanished among the population, thus making this outcome the likely one.
He was some random guy who got pulled away by bystanders in a period before mass surveillance was possible and when everyone involved was really fucking tired of all the fighting and wanted to go home and rest. What racist brainworm is piloting your body to make you say shit like “he was probably executed?” What evidence leads you to that conclusion? Check yourself.
the vast majority of people in china are executed, often many times a month, so it’s just simple math
it’s pretty common to be executing one week then getting executed the next.
still better than north korea, where there’s only one executioner in the whole country and everyone has to get behind him and push
The executioner also doubles as the only train in the country!
President Xi personally executes all those who do not execute themselves.
I mean, if they did catch him, it’d make a whole lot of sense to remove any possibility of him further embarrassing the state by becoming a western propaganda mouthpiece, and you’ve got to remember this was a very extreme, near-existential crisis where radical measures were taken in response. Other leaders were also executed too, though after trials as far as I’m aware.
Not saying it happened, and we’ll never know either way, but it’s not a completely outlandish idea that the MSS would just off him had they found him.
Other leaders were not executed, because the US smuggled them out of country into the US where they live comfortably to this day.
There is nothing that suggests he was anything more than a random passer-by (as evidenced by the shopping bags he was carrying). And an elderly one at that. That means he was very likely not part of the student protests, and certainly not one of its leaders.
If the Chinese government was to arrest and punish someone it would be the leaders/instigators of the color revolution attempt. And they would not simply “disappear” them, they would make sure to put them on trial. That is much more effective at a) exposing them as traitors to the nation and agents of foreign powers, and b) dissuading others from associating with their movement.
Unfortunately, Western intelligence agencies smuggled most of the main leaders/instigators out of the country and subsequently gave them high paying jobs in the West. As for the “tank man”, there is no reason to assume that anything more happened to him than continuing to live his normal life. More than likely he was, as most elderly Chinese people are, extremely patriotic. We do not even know why he wanted to talk to the tank driver.
Please recognize that unfounded and baseless narratives constructed around that footage have been used by anti-China propagandists to drum up sinophobia and anti-communist sentiments. We do not need to be feeding into that with sensationalist speculation. Stick to what is factual and reasonable.
Assuming there could have been consequences for breaking the law is not “racist”.
Why isn’t the penalty for blocking traffic a fine? What about community service, or probation? He’s obviously not part of the protests or the militants, since they are several blocks away from Tiannamen Square. Why does your mind immediately jump to execution?
You know deep in your heart why. Confronting racist things you were taught doesn’t make you a bad person—introspection is good!
My mind jumps to that because thats what our propaganda has told us. Obviously. It’s what we are talking about here specifically. Race does not factor in here at ground level.
It does, actually. You’re just unaware of it.
By what mechanism do you propose he was found and executed? The guy in the tank draws a masterpiece from memory and then the cops go door to door throughout the entire city to find this guy who… climbed on a tank? Really?
It’s possible it was plainclothes MSS officers who pulled him away, not fellow civilians.
No evidence either way though, beyond Jiang Zemin very nonchalantly admitting that the CPC had no idea who he was, so…
If there’s no evidence either way, apply Occams Razor. Less events have to line up for him to just having vanished among the population, thus making this outcome the likely one.