The right calling everything they don't like "socialism", has stopped functioning as an effective attack on those things and started to have the opposite effect, weakening the stigma around the word socialism.
Nah not your fault, the Twitter commenter wasn't very clear, but thats my best guess as to what they meant.
I read that, before Bernie came along, the biggest boost to the DSA's membership was when Republicans called Obama a socialist, so people were like "if this is socialism, it's not so bad", and then read more on socialism.
the vilification of socialism by the right, with the sniveling assent of the libs, has probably helped the left a tiny bit. everyone fucking hates these people, so maybe it's worth checking out the side that they all hate.
I think the cartoonish anti-communism of the established US parties has helped socialism gain popularity. When people hear that they can't have healthcare because that would be 😱socialism😱 a good deal of them is going to think that this socialism-thing sounds like a good idea.
I wonder how confused these people are when they hear about all those right wing Liberal parties in other parts of the world. Also the term classical liberal will blow their mind.
Sorry, the world liberal us vile, so I'm going to villify it. Some of us are vertebrates.
ironically, the vilification of "socialism" by the Right has pretty much only served the interests of the populist left
I can kind of see the argument here. When conservatives call everything to the left of hunting the homeless for sport evil socialism, you start to realize you can ignore their criticisms and stop taking them seriously.