Then we're moving the color spectrum left! Obviously he should be harder on Israel. And obviously he can't and win the race. I'm not looking for him to bail us out, but I am looking at larger appeal. The left has been crushed in this country for generations, the scale of this is useful for socialists to feel like they can do something and succeed and get in the minds of millions of people that things can be better. It's not that complicated. Mamdani is not revolution, he's not toppling the government, and yes, he's not ending the genocide in Palestine. But he is getting people energized for something more. Bernie failed, I volunteered for him, and I wouldn't again. But I don't regret it. AOC was a flash in the pan who's most revolutionary rhetoric came very early on. She should and could be doing better this whole time. Mamdani may fail, but a failed socialist mayor is better than a failed socialist mayoral campaign. If he pulls an AOC, we have yet another batch of volunteers who can be pulled further left by pointing out his capture by the DNC. If he succeeds in getting his campaign promises across, we have a victory on a long line of defeats to uphold, and millions of people's lives having experienced it. I don't believe his campaign is distracting people from trying to end the genocidal machine, the bombs are falling, they money is flowing, unless you illegal-to-say we have so much work to do. Mamdani is currently like a free space in bingo. Having a socialist in the spotlight is far better than not having one, it allows us an easier open to conversations with strangers than before, conversations than can turn far more radical. I can't see how this campaign and possible stint in office don't give us something more than we would have if this were just a normal election.

[–] purpleworm@hexbear.net 18 points 5 days ago

Then we're moving the color spectrum left!

This is literally, at best, just an aesthetic change, but you are glossing over the part where having a disjunction between socialist rhetoric and actions is detrimental to socialism. Bernie calling himself a socialist isn't actually helpful to us when he says "No, not like Cuba, like Denmark." All he is doing is making socialist either mean "liar" or mean nothing at all.

Obviously he should be harder on Israel. And obviously he can't and win the race.

Do you actually have evidence of this? People would have said the same thing about the Primary and then he won. Most Americans country-wide have a disfavorable view of Israel, and New York City is similar, just more polarized.

You're just digging a hole for more people to be misled into being conciliatory socdems who steal valor from actual socialists while disparaging actually socialist positions. There are many countries where the socialist have been much more successful historically than in the US, but they were co-opted and now there are communist parties that are genuinely just nationalist liberals and similar, and their existence is a detriment to the actual left. If you monofocus on colors and shapes and dismiss issues of substance, you won't be able to develop the pattern recognition to see that this is hurting us overall when people pretend to be socialists.