What to do about casual anti-communism?

[GPDP]

By casual anti-communism, I mean offhand, passing comments whereby a person describes someone or something as "communist," with the understanding that the word communist in such a context is meant to convey authoritarianism, a stifling of individuality, and the like.

Now, we are all familiar with conservatives and other right-wing nutcases going off on rants about TEH EVUL NAZI COMMUNISM TAKIN OVAR 'MURICAH and such, but in more casual, non-strictly political settings, I've heard liberals and even relatively apolitical people deride or mock all sorts of things as communist.

Obviously, I know anti-communist propaganda is so ingrained in our society that communism is a dirty word, which is why when it's dropped in a casual conversation outside of communist circles, even when the subject is not at all political, it is always implicitly understood what is meant by the term, hence why you hear people complain about things like how their "communist teacher" doesn't let them express themselves in class. The problem is, what should be done about this? Should such comments be confronted and corrected, even when the conversation does not involve us? Or should the comment be ignored, as it's not actually disparaging communism but merely using the word as a synonym for authoritarianism?

[The Douche]

I pretty much do this all the time. By stripping the meaning from the word (you don't like reese's cups? what're you a communist?) it becomes much easier to argue for the society which it at one time represented.

[Red Commissar]

It represents an aspect of the culture, and I'd imagine trying to get people to stop saying it would have the same success of trying to get people to stop using "gay" in their casual conversations.

Best thing to do at this juncture is to let culture take its course and wait for it to become irrelevant.

[the last donut of the night]

I think the same method we use against casual racist/sexist/homophobic jokes should be used here. When somebody cracks a joke about blacks, latinos, gays, or what have you, I just don't laugh. It just makes the situation awkward for everybody involved.

[Exasperated_Youth]

There's a time and a place. If you seem overly touchy about it, chances are people will do it even more just to annoy you. If the situation's appropriate, I'd explain, especially if it's a teacher using communist as a derogatory term.
I don't agree with just "waiting for it to pass". If people constantly use the term in such a way, it'll end up in the dictionary and there'll be little chance to save it.