2024-05-06 20:40:05 +00:00
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2024-10-29 18:27:12 +00:00
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date: 2020-10-29
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2024-05-06 20:40:05 +00:00
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id: f4965fea-590f-41d2-ad18-890062a9e6d9
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title: Useful idiot
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---
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In political jargon, a useful idiot is a derogatory term for a person
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perceived as propagandizing for a cause without fully comprehending the
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cause's goals, and who is cynically used by the cause's leaders. The
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term was originally used during the Cold War to describe non-communists
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regarded as susceptible to communist propaganda and manipulation. The
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term has often been attributed to Vladimir Lenin, but this attribution
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is unsubstantiated.
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