[palmer_eldritch]

Except current France doesn't operate according to socialist logic. It's much closer to neo-liberalism too (as most of today's world).

Just because the current president has the label "socialist" for historical reasons it doesn't make it socialism.

[davidw]

"Socialist!" is one of those meaningless code words, like "neoliberal!" that just means "bad!" for the intended audience.

[TeMPOraL]

Totally. Those labels are instant mind-killers and in my book they are tools of the Dark Arts. When someone calls you a "socialist" or "neoliberal" or whatever, they imply you believe everything some ideology has to say, so they can go ahead, point any random weak point (every political ideology has some) and call you a moron.

This is so totally dumb behaviour, that I can't even begin to describe it. What's equally dumb is assuming that if you agree with some group on one thing, then you should also agree on everything else.

Basically - for me, giving yourself a political label is a sign of subpar thinking. Giving others political labels is disingenuous.

[djur]

"mind-killers" and "Dark Arts" are self-describing labels, though. They don't avoid being political rhetoric just because they were coined by a guy who purports to be opposed to political rhetoric.

[rat87]

neo-libreral means pro free trade

neo-conservate means pro war especially against non-democratic regimes they don't like seeking to remake them into democracies.