USEFUL IDIOT /ˈyo͞osfəl ˈidēət/ noun:a naive or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda.
The term "Useful Idiot" may be a concept with roots to Marxism and Vladimir Lenin from the 1800's but man, doesn't it sound like it could apply to what's going on in America today? People rioting and looting can't tell you what the issue is or what they want and people are sick and tired of it. "Black Lives Matter" the organization is not the same as the sentiment that black lives obviously do matter. If you support the political movement because of its name, instead of what it actually claims to stand for, you might be a "Useful Idiot."
Here is a list of 21 other ways you might be a "Useful Idiot" — the BLM/Antifa edition:
- If you donate to a political organization without knowing how or where they actually use the money, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you find yourself having to defend or explain political slogans you don't actually believe in, like "Defund The Police" doesn't actually mean defunding the police, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you join a protest march or rally in order to feel like you're "doing something", you might be a useful idiot.
- If you continue to rationalize and justify violence against innocent business owners, police or bronze statues, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you support a political organization because of what they say they are against but are ignorant of what they claim they are for, you might be a useful idiot.
- If your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram feed contains a black square in the past 60 days, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you support COVID-19 government orders to wear a mask as legal - unless someone feels the need to scream in the face of a police officer, you might be a useful idiot.
- If your support for police or justice reform includes a checklist of ideas like government-mandated vegetarianism, carbon-taxes on manufacturers and higher taxes on the wealthy, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you claim to support generic ideas such as "Black Lives Matter" but then donate to organizations like Planned Parenthood, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you are against The 2nd Amendment but also support defunding the police, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you claim to defer to science when the data supports your political ideals but then ignore it when it inconveniently does not, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you find yourself parroting vague aphorisms like "No Justice, No Peace" while claiming to be against violent protestors, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you claim 1st Amendment protections for speech and public assembly for protestors but then support government lockdowns for public health reasons, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you believe you can simultaneously support the Black Lives Matter or Antifa organizations and the US Constitution, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you are using an iPhone to Tweet a selfie wearing a #BLM T-shirt but believe Capitalism is part of the problem, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you feel guilty because of your skin color or something your dead ancestors did, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you support government-funded abortions for Black/Brown communities but are opposed to government-funded abstinence education, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you carry a sign supporting BLM, Antifa or Defund the Police and don't see Carl Marx when you look in the mirror, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you define generic words such as 'looting' or 'vandalism' as inherently racist, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you believe teenagers robbing beer from a CVS is some form of reparations for slavery, you might be a useful idiot.
- If you believe anything a white person has achieved or owns is proof that systemic racism exists, you might be a useful idiot.