It was a slur against collaborators with communism, not against social democrats... | Hacker News

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		dash2 on June 30, 2024 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Safe Superintelligence Inc. It was a slur against collaborators with communism, not against social democrats: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/08/22/useful-idiot/

DiogenesKynikos on July 1, 2024 [–]

The slur was originally directed against social democrats by conservatives who accused them of helping communism.

Later, the term became a much more general slur used by conservatives against anyone who wasn't sufficiently "tough" against the USSR.

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