Excellent point, Carol! It shows who the favorite chosen symbolic "demons" (boogymen) are at the moment, doesn't it? There's always one out there.

In the 50's or 60's one was usually accused of being a "Communist" or a "fellow traveler", meaning one who sympathizes with Communism. Now one is accused instead of being a "Muslim" or an "anti-semite".

To call someone a "racist", of course, is also a very handy way of destroying his reputation, whether or not it has any real basis in fact. If you try to defend yourself against such accusations, the more you struggle the faster you may sink in the quicksand that the very accusation itself has placed around you.

And then there's the demonizing word "socialist" (used that way in the USA only). That negative label has been used by countless Americans to attack countless other Americans ever since the fledling union movements arose after the First World War.

There is absolutely NOTHING shameful about being a socialist....but try being one in the USA!