mayberry machiavelli

Englisch - Englisch

Definition von mayberry machiavelli im Englisch Englisch wörterbuch

A person who furthers his cause by "reducing every issue to its simplest, black-and-white terms for public consumption", i.e., denying nuance by using stark, but false, choices. For example, if you did not support the Iraq war, you were a Saddam Hussein supporter

Relevante Übersetzungen

Mayberry Machiavellis

plural form of Mayberry Machiavelli

Silbentrennung

mayberry Mach·i·a·vel·li

Türkische aussprache

meyberi mäkiıveli

Aussprache

/ˈmāˌberē ˌmäkēəˈvelē/ /ˈmeɪˌbɛriː ˌmɑːkiːəˈvɛliː/

Etymologie

() "Mayberry Machiavelli" is a satirically pejorative phrase coined by John J. DiIulio Jr., Ph.D., who ran President Bush's Faith-based Initiative. After he quickly resigned from his White House post in late 2001, DiIulio told journalist Ron Suskind, "What you've got is everything--and I mean everything--being run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis." "This gave rise to what you might call Mayberry Machiavellis — staff, senior and junior, who consistently talked and acted as if the height of political sophistication consisted in reducing every issue to its simplest, black-and-white terms for public consumption, then steering legislative initiatives or policy proposals as far right as possible."Dilulio, John. John Dilulio's Letter. Esquire (May 2007) http://www.esquire.com/features/dilulio access date 2009-12-11 To an extent unseen in modern administrations, DiIulio believes that Bush's political arm (i.e., the Mayberry Machiavellis) were substitutes for a policy apparatus.Suskind, Ron. Why Are These Men Laughing?. Esquire (January 2007). http://www.ronsuskind.com/newsite/articles/archives/000032.html access date 2009-12-11 The phrase is derisively meant to invoke infamous Machiavellian-style power politics coupled with a supposed sense of incompetent regional backwardness exemplified by the fictional rural town of Mayberry, R.F.D., from The Andy Griffith Show which ran on the American television network, CBS, from 1960 - 1968. The show's character, deputy sheriff Barney Fife (played by Don Knotts) is the epitome of such ineptness as to what DiIulio referred.