The long list of Useful Idiots

George Orwell didn’t use the phrase “Useful Idiots” as far as I know. But he knew who they were. The intellectuals (and he had some pretty tart views on that class) who went to the Soviet Union in the late 40’s and 50’s and declared “I have seen the future and it works”. He called them out and he was proven right. 

“Useful idiots,” was originally coined as a term for Communist sympathizers and defined as follows: “a citizen of a non-communist country sympathetic to communism, who was regarded by communists as naive and susceptible to manipulation for propaganda or other purposes.” [Ref].  

There are modern “Useful Idiots”: Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, Madeleine Albright, Katie Couric, Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen. Welcome Eileen Gu to this esteemed group.

She is wonderfully talented, a model, a scholar and a gold-winning skier. Way more accomplished than I ever was or ever could be. But she’s also naive. Like all Useful Idiots. Well-meaning. But naive. Skiing for China, when she was born in the US gives China a fantastic publicity coup.  But she’ll be dumped, clever girl, if she ever fails to gold. Just ask Zhu Yi.