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In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders: What's Wrong With America Looking More Like Scandinavia? [View all]True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)For instance, don't get trapped by terminology. Words mean only what they are associated with, and "democratic socialism" sounds like what it is - a compromise among competing necessities.
In other words, the contrast of the two words only draws attention to why it's necessary to stipulate "democratic" - because of the monstrous experiments in the authoritarian form that had soaked two continents in blood for half a century.
By accidentally raising that association, you associate yourself with it even while stipulating the exact opposite. This is why it's bad to be a bearer of bad news: Even if your agenda is to correct the problem causing the bad news, you're still associated with a bad event to the recipient. Communication is all about such associations.
For now it's fine, but eventually he'll have to get some strategists to hone his approach.