What does useful idiot mean?
Definitions for useful idiot
use·ful id·iot
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word useful idiot.
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Wiktionary
useful idiotnoun
Soviet sympathizer in Western countries, from the perspective of the political right.
useful idiotnoun
One who is seen to unwittingly support a malignant cause through their 'naive' attempts to be a force for good.
Etymology: The earliest known usage in Western media is in a 1948 article in the social-democratic Italian paper L'Umanita - as cited in the New York Times article on Italian politics.
Wikipedia
Useful idiot
In political jargon, a useful idiot is a term currently used to reference a person perceived as propagandizing for a cause—particularly a bad cause originating from a devious, ruthless source—without fully comprehending the cause's goals, and who is cynically being used by the cause's leaders. The term was often used during the Cold War to describe non-communists regarded as susceptible to communist propaganda and manipulation.
Wikidata
Useful idiot
In political jargon, useful idiot is a pejorative term for people perceived as propagandists for a cause whose goals they do not understand, and who are used cynically by the leaders of the cause. The term has been used to refer to Soviet sympathizers in Western countries. The implication was that, although the people in question naïvely thought of themselves as an ally of the Soviet Union, they were actually held in contempt and were being cynically used. The use of the term in political discourse has since been extended to other propagandists, especially those who are seen to unwittingly support a malignant cause which they naïvely believe to be a force for good. Despite often being attributed to Lenin, in 1987, Grant Harris, senior reference librarian at the Library of Congress, declared that "We have not been able to identify this phrase among [Lenin's] published works." A New York Times article from 1948, on contemporary Italian politics, documented usage of the term in an article from the social-democratic Italian paper L'Umanita. The French equivalent, "idiots utiles", was used in a newspaper article title as early as 1946. An earlier usage of a similar term, useful innocents, appears in Austrian-American economist Ludwig von Mises' "Planned Chaos". Von Mises claims the term was used by communists for liberals that von Mises describes as "confused and misguided sympathizers". The term useful innocents also appears in a Readers Digest article titled "Yugoslavia's Tragic Lesson to the World", an excerpt from a, at the time, forthcoming book authored by Bogdan Raditsa, a "high ranking official of the Yugoslav Government". Raditsa says: "In the Serbo-Croat language the communists have a phrase for true democrats who consent to collaborate with them for 'democracy.' It is Korisne Budale, or Useful Innocents." Although Raditsa translates the phrase as "Useful Innocents", the word budala actually translates as "fool" and synonyms thereof.
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of useful idiot in Chaldean Numerology is: 3
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of useful idiot in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6
Examples of useful idiot in a Sentence
People dont know theyre being lied to, but these tapes show that the top-down approach to media, they show Jeff Zucker telling people what to cover, whatnot to cover -- calling [ Giuliani ] a useful idiot there, telling them for political reasons dontcover certain stories, fox News host Sean Hannity, these are the times that try mens souls and I think if you go one direction, you lose your conscience, another direction, you lose your livelihood. But there are brave people like the person we worked with regarding CNN who are willing to be citizen journalists, willing to expose these sorts of things.
She hasnt denied it, shes just going after Hillary. I just think that she could be a useful idiot the way that Trump is a useful idiot to the Russians.
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"useful idiot." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/useful+idiot>.
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