The packaging of an idea matters a great deal. You can get people to agree with all sorts of socialist principles, but if you start talking about socialism a lot are going to punch out.
This isn't to say we should never utter the word "socialism," and your point about the futility of completely catering to mainstream media is a good one. It's really about picking the right battles, and figuring out where the benefit of talking about socialism as socialism is worth the flak you'll inevitably catch from it. I don't think Bernie really picked anything up from his Cuba comments, and he got a ton of overtly-negative coverage over it. It's difficult to underestimate how rabid U.S. anticommunism is.
The packaging of an idea matters a great deal. You can get people to agree with all sorts of socialist principles, but if you start talking about socialism a lot are going to punch out.
This isn't to say we should never utter the word "socialism," and your point about the futility of completely catering to mainstream media is a good one. It's really about picking the right battles, and figuring out where the benefit of talking about socialism as socialism is worth the flak you'll inevitably catch from it. I don't think Bernie really picked anything up from his Cuba comments, and he got a ton of overtly-negative coverage over it. It's difficult to underestimate how rabid U.S. anticommunism is.