Mean no disrespect to veterans, but just viewed an aerial photo of tanks being taken into DC

[allegorical oracle]

for the big parade. A long line of trucks or rail with dozens of gray tanks aboard. Frankly, they all look alike.

What is the fascination with tanks?? Seems that if you've seen one tank, you've seen most tanks. Big, gray hulks of steel with guns. Accept that each has its special use. But boring beyond words unless you're into tanks, especially given the costs that moving them into the city entails (plus necessary road reconstruction).

Are they some sort of power symbol that I don't get?

[SheltieLover]

1. No clue. Guessing compensating...

[C_U_L8R]

2. With a penis as small and limp as Trump's

It's only natural that he feels compelled to overcompensate.

[hlthe2b]

4. Yes... And plenty of MAGA males share this insecurity quite obviously

[allegorical oracle]

13. Precisely. (Horse) mounted police officers are way sexier to me. Tanks, well,

they're about as exciting as a carton of eggs.

[TommyT139]

27. Sadly, horses are abused...

...in those contexts. You may have seen the video posted in the last day or so where LA cops were for ing their horses to injure protesters already in the ground. Such animal abuse merits the death penalty, and not for the non-consenting horse.

In general, a person seeing mounted officers as "sexy" instead of terrorizing implies which side of power imbalance their perspective might be rooted in. That's saying nothing specific about you, but as a general thing, attributing "sexiness" or positive erotic power to symbols of authoritarianism is a long-overdue conversation happening in the fetish and kink communities -- hopefully it will trickle out to thoughtful people more broadly. It certainly could give insight to why Trumpists perceive Trump's cruelty as a measure of his power.

[ImNotGod]

12. On that note I heard tRump threw a fit when they were going to display a mushroom shaped missile. nt

[allegorical oracle]

14. It still would be more exhilarating than a rectangular block of gray steel.

[GP6971]

31. Hmmmm...

[ProfessorGAC]

32. Echoing That Hmmmm

[Torchlight]

33. Sounds serious

Good luck!

[UpInArms]

3. He's copying Saddam Hussein

Picture Gallery: Saddam's surprise parade

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1096493.stm

Monday, 1 January, 2001, 19:53 GMT


Tanks roll down Baghdad's Grand Celebrations Ground

Can’t get the picture to post … pics at link

[allegorical oracle]

15. Well, if that's an omen as to how things will work out with djt, it's impressive.

[CousinIT]

5. Same as big guns, big trucks, loud cars...etc.

They are all manifestations of male insecurity when used as props like this. I'm ashamed our military is being reduced to marionettes in this way, just to salve the insecurity of the criminal bully in thief. They have their purpose in theatres of war, but not as goddamned props.

[Ping Tung]

9. His VROOM!! VROOM!! , ran out of gas.

[Torchlight]

6. Nothing says Happy Birthday! like rolling tanks through the streets

especially when it only costs us the equivalent of 14 million nutritious meals. Totally worth it.

[Ping Tung]

7. Golf carts would be more appropriate for Bone Spur Donnie.

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Which rather suggests he's have a vicarious military experience. Cravings for power.

[Abolishinist]

20. Sounds good to me!

The other day, I noticed I've been paying for but haven't used in a long time the Midjourney app. So I typed in "a barbie golf cart followed by more barbie golf carts driving by the white house" and got this.

[LeftinOH]

8. bicycle motorcycle car pickup truck giant lifted pickup truck TANK

[Klarkashton]

11. These kind of displays were considered unnecessary

We all are forced to pay taxes for this shit and that's enough. We don't need to show admiration or celebrate about this, have our noses rubbed into it.

[underpants]

16. It's a show of force. Look what we got!

[Ocelot II]

17. Many tanks is a lot scarier than one tank.

A whole long line of them is intended to symbolize the vast might of the Army. It's kind of like buying the biggest pickup truck you can afford and rolling coal with it because you have a small, flaccid dick.

[allegorical oracle]

19. Great explanation -- the long line thingy. So, it doesn't matter if you're the most powerful

SOB on the planet. Your worth is signified in the numbers -- quantity of military paraphernalia. Kinda like being worth billions instead of mere millions. The sexual overcompensation factor is a valued (but obvious) insight, too.

[surfered]

18. It's reassuring for men worried about the size of their penis. Remember Trump has tiny hands and fingers

[Danascot]

21. Nobody should refer to the event as

"Trump's tiny mushroom dick military parade". It might hurt his feelings.

[MineralMan]

22. Tanks Are Big, Ugly, and Mean-Looking

At one time, they were important in ground wars. However, as we saw in Ukraine, they are vulnerable to attack by little drones that can blow them up. Russia lost tons of them before they figured out they were going to be pretty useless.

But, they look dangerous and deadly, so Trump wants them in his parade. They're not really suited for close urban quarters, either, but never mind. They're ugly, noisy and impressive-looking. That's all that matters to Trump.

[Hekate]

24. Hah. Can you imagine a parade with a flyover of buzzing little drones & no tanks?

[MineralMan]

25. Depends. You can have them make pretty formations in the sky.

They're not as scary, though. Tanks are, with their big penis-looking guns sticking out and pointing at things. Plus the tanks make lots of noise and vibration. Scary stuff, indeed.

What would be funny is for people to have some drones in the crowd and fly them over the parade, dropping water balloons full of "Elon Musk" cologne. Splat! Splat! Yes, indeed.

And speaking of Depends, I hear that Donnie has switched to a catheter to handle his incontinence.

[Hekate]

23. This has nothing to do with veterans, nor any active duty personnel. It's his Generalissimo complex...

It’s all about his admiration of the dictators of the world and their ability to throw a parade for themselves — with tens of thousands of troops goose-stepping along, the biggest heaviest most macho weaponry vroom-vrooming along, many giganzo missile-phalluses, and bigly tanks. China, North Korea, USSR, Iraq/Saddam Hussein.

Now as it happens there are capital cities in this world that were constructed to take that, huge wide boulevards and reinforced roadways, such as the above.

Washington DC was not — it was decided early on that we were not having any kings or dictators and therefore didn’t need to set a stage for them. So in Mango Mussolini’s first term “his” generals told him No, and he never got over it.

Bigly tanks, baby, very macho.

[usonian]

26. Tanks are obsolete. Trump is obsolete. Tariffs are obsolete.

[Onthefly]

28. Tiananmen Square Protests 1989

The tank stopper.

[Aristus]

29. Ex-tanker here; also current tank enthusiast.

Tanks, like several other battlefield weapons, have morphed into something their designers likely never intended. From the dominant weapon on mid-to-late 20th Century battlefields, to a symbol of autocratic tyranny and violent repression.

The Soviet Union's method of winning wars was to flood the battlefield with immense amounts of cheaply-made, and often sub-standard weapons, including tanks, to overwhelm an enemy (like the Nazis) who might have better tanks, just not enough of them to overcome their numeric disadvantage. The USSR produced so many tanks, around 100,000 of the T-54/55 series for example, that even poor nations could afford a small fleet of them. They were not usually enough to provide a capable national defense. But they were great for military parades celebrating whichever autocrat was currently in power. Small, poor African nations like Uganda and the Central African Republic used the ubiquitous T-55 to literally crush any political opposition from their cowed, terrified populations.

Trump's parade is no doubt intended to intimidate all of us who oppose him and his tinhorn bid for absolute power. I don't think it will work.

In a similar way as above, the Soviet-designed AK-47 assault rifle was intended as the primary weapon of Soviet line infantry in conventional ground warfare. But as with the T-55 tank, so many were made that the rifle became dirt cheap, and so any terrorist or resistance organization could pick up enough to start a revolution. The AK-47 is now more identified with irregular warfare than conventional warfare.

[Metaphorical]

34. Yup, also susceptible to drones

Drones are fantastic antitank weapons - from a drone perspective, a tank is a mobile coffin, as can be attested by the number of tanks that were abandoned by their Russian crews in Ukraine once drone attacks began in earnest - and the number of said tanks that the Ukrainians consequently took over as anti-tank weapons of their own.

I have to wonder what's going to happen when protesters start standing in front of those tanks during the parade. You know that it will happen.

[Aristus]

35. Every generation of tank has faced an anti-tank weapon that everyone insisted would put an end to the age of tanks.

World War I - the anti-tank rifle.
World War II - The anti-tank rocket (bazooka, the Panzerfaust, etc.
The Vietnam, Arab-Israeli, and Gulf Wars - The TOW; Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided missile.
Russia-Ukraine - anti-tank drones.

While drones are very effective, and I can't wait until Russia finally throws in the towel, someone better than the Russians will come up with an anti-drone system that will restore the balance again, at least for a little while. Build a better anti-tank weapon system, someone will build a better tank.