useful idiots
Unwitting propaganda tools
Useful idiots are people who unwittingly advance a cause they don't fully understand, manipulated by those with ulterior motives.
The term originated in Cold War discourse, allegedly describing Western sympathizers who promoted Soviet interests without grasping they were being used.
Now applied broadly to anyone serving as an unwitting tool for propaganda or political manipulation: Social media has created a new generation of useful idiots spreading disinformation.
- pawnsLowest-ranked chess pieces
- manipulatedControlled through cunning
- fifth columnInternal subversives aiding outsiders
- foreign influenceOutside power affecting domestic affairs
- suckerEasily fooled person
naive · mark · exploited · gullible · duped · agitprop · unwitting · true believer · fool · astroturfing · deceived · disinformation · propaganda · Soviet influence · misled · credulous · puppet · stooge
- Soviet Propagandaagitprop, Pravda, disinformation, state media, propaganda films
useful idiotstrue believers
Unwavering adherents to doctrine
double agents · intelligence officers · operatives · moles · spies
useful idiotsliabilities
Amounts owed to others
loose cannons · own goals · saboteurs · hindrances · dead weight
useful idiotsdissidents
Political objectors
resistance fighters · critical thinkers · whistleblowers · defectors · skeptics
useful, usefully, usefulness, useless, uselessly, uselessness, uses, used, users