Some people in my province in Canada might try to declare some other person as being one of those two adjectives when they talk politics, and it's effect is pretty mixed. Some proudly call themselves socialist or communist, others see it as an insult. Those who mean it to be the latter usually don't know much of the difference between communist or socialist if they didn't live abroad nor have ever been part of a history class with emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Clearly there are some people comfortable with the label, the French Communist Party for instance won 6.6% of the MEP vote in 2014 and even used to be the largest party in parliament in the past like in 1945.
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I would laugh and think its sad they consume so much N. American media that they use these words like an insult while not knowing what they mean.
Most people know that while fascism played an awful role in European history, communism also destroyed the lives of millions.
I dont think the average person outside of college students get too sucked up into the whole communist ideaology.
It would be nonsensical. Being called a socialist isn’t an insult by any measure and calling anyone in our general political landscape a communist would be greatly exaggerating.