In Lemmy, and I would say in the Fediverse in general, the population skews left. That means there are more terms to describe the spectrum. Mainstream media and social media label anyone centrist and towards the left as liberals. And of course the Far Right labels the same people as socialists scum.
My rubric for here in the fediverse is as follows. Liberals are generally referred to as capitalists and/or believe capitalism is still the best economic system that only needs minor reforms, along with social justice reforms. Tankies are generally the ones that want to enforce the social and economic reforms with an iron fist, even against the populace at large if necessary. Leftists are generally anarcho-something (socialist/communist), and believe major change is needed beyond the system we have in place now.
Again, that’s my rubric, and I’m sure other people have their own.
Pretty spot on observation! I’ve been on the fediverse since 2015 (mastodon) and leftists and libertarians were definitely the original fediverse folk. I was more right leaning back then, wasn’t as averse to calling ancaps anarchists but now I am definitely not holding that view anymore. 2020 changed shit. Ancaps aren’t here to help anarchists.
