The term "useful idiots" has been used in politics to refer to those who support a cause without understanding that cause or its ramifications very well. It is really a way that those in power view those they have power over, who can be used to reach the goals and ends of those in power. It is about manipulation and exploitation of the goodwill and trust of followers who assume their leaders are ethical and decent people. These followers may not have any deep understanding of what their support does for the leaders themselves, and their causes. And they also do not understand that there is always a price to pay for accepting the role of "useful idiots".
Let's look at some situation in which common folk are treated as "useful idiots".
 · Professional athletes before they unionized.
 · American workers without unions.
 · Soldiers as "cannon fodder".
 · Political Party members who do not understand how they are taken for granted.
 · American consumers
 · Those who support corrupt systems with their tacit consent.
 · Those who follow demagogues and support of a cult of personality.
When citizens begin to realize that they are being used as the "useful idiots" who keep the systems functioning for those who benefit most, they begin to get restless and finally begin to refuse the role of "useful idiots". They may withdraw their support. They may organize and unionize. They may simply refuse to participate in the corrupt system and seek better alternatives. But, once they recognize how they have been exploited and abused, they understand how demeaning that is and begin to find ways to stand up for themselves.
One "useful idiot" strategy is at the heart of capitalism and its need for consumers to purchase the products it's factories and workers turn out. An entire industry, advertising, has been built to create customers and consumers for an entire range of products. Much of this "need" is artificially created to keep that system working and producing profits for those on top. People are told they need to work to get the money to buy all the products they are told they must have to be modern and up to date.
Most citizens do not realize that none of the social or political systems could continue to stand or to function without their support. Those systems derive their "mandate' from popular support, whether that support is active, or tacit, or simply accepting the systems as normal and the way things "just are".
When professional athletes saw how much the owners were taking in while they did all the hard work, even risking injury, for such minimal salaries, they organized to demand a bigger portion of the wealth their work was producing.
What is going on now with workers is that workers are insisting on being valued and paid a bigger slice of the American economic pie to play their part in making the system work. Workers are quitting with jobs going unfilled; teachers leaving education while others, like nurses, go on strike. Wages will need to improve to fix the problem. Workers, teachers, nurses and other public employees will need to be valued and working conditions improved.
The days of taking care of profits and stockholders while treating workers as "useful idiots" are over. Welcome to the new world of empowered workers who will no longer accept the demeaning roles as "useful idiots" to keep profits up.
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