Useful idiots

The rich are different; they have more money. The intellectuals are also different; they are more articulate. It is surely possible to be intelligent without being an intellectual. And vice-versa.

These thoughts come to mind after reading Paul Hollander's Political Pilgrims: Western Intellectuas in Search of the Good Society. I know it's old stuff but it is mind numbing how blind and (yes) how stupid some very smart people have been in their embrace of utopian insanity.

Many of us who were around in the 1970s recall very comfortable colleagues doing pilgrimages to Nicaragua to visit their Sandanista brothers and sisters -- and coming back to campus in ther fatigues.

Yes, Lenin did rcognize "useful idiots". Reason.tv updates all this with its Killer Chic: Hollywood's Sick Love Affair with Che Guevara.