I had an old friend come into town and he had made transphobia his personality. He hit me with some shit about manipulating children and I hit him with my old reliable "what the fuck are you talking about?" and he folded. It's like three steps to be offended by that shit. You'd need to recognize what they're talking about, recognize it as an insult, and choose to react to the insult. It's literally easier to steamroll past it than to engage on inane insult. The alternative is to ask them about the name and get a history lesson from someone you don't like. This shit is not how people talk outside of a work by Aaron Sorkin.

This person will never confront a "tankie" in real life. These people are cowards, afraid that they might be outclassed by someone who has read theory and history. Their own words would strike hollow against someone who believes in something.