Totalitarian pop
Mary Madigan
My husband likes to wear this No Che t-shirt to celebrate American holidays like July 4th.
One day he wore it into our very multi-culti local coffee shop, where he really harshed their buzz. They whined.."why don't you like Che??"
He didn't have a list of the reasons on hand, but if anyone asks, via the Babalu Blog, here are the facts behind ten myths about Che:
8. HIS ADVENTURES WERE A CELEBRATION OF LIFE. Instead, they were an orgy of death. He executed many innocent people in Santa Clara, in central Cuba, where his column was based in the last stage of the armed struggle. After the triumph of the revolution, he was in charge of "La Cabaña" prison for half a year. He ordered the execution of hundreds of prisoners—former Batista men, journalists, businessmen, and others. A few witnesses, including Javier Arzuaga, who was the chaplain of "La Cabaña", and José Vilasuso, who was a member of the body in charge of the summary judicial process, recently gave me their painful testimonies.[Link thanks to Fausta at the Bad Hair Blog, who has more good reasons to dislike Che]9. HE WAS A VISIONARY. His vision of Latin America was actually quite blurred. Take, for instance, his view that the guerrillas had to take to the countryside because that is where the struggling masses lived. In fact, since the 1960s, most peasants have peacefully deserted the countryside in part because of the failure of land reform, which has hindered the development of a property-based agriculture and economies of scale with absurd regulations forbidding all sorts of private arrangements.
Be sure to mention that to any gay people you know who wear those goddamned Che buttons and shirts.
Pretty soon expect shirts with Mullah Omar on them.
Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!
Famous Che quotes, before my personal favorite:
Don't shoot! I'm Che! I'm worth more to you alive than dead!
In NYC, everyone wears those shirts. They put them on babies, little kids - it's gross.
Pretty soon expect shirts with Mullah Omar on them
Che was handsome, which is the only positive thing that can be said about him. That certainly couldn't be said about Omar. I don't think you could say the same about any member of al Qaeda.The only terror-supporter who is even remotely t-shirt worthy is gorgeous George Galloway.
Be sure to mention that to any gay people you know who wear those goddamned Che buttons and shirts."
That's exactly what I was thinking. He was a Communist mass murderer and that's all he was. All he had going for him was the good luck to die young and leave a good-looking corpse. May he burn in Hell. I'd just as soon wear a T-shirt of Rev. Fred Phelps shaking hands with Richard Speck.
Scott Kirwin wrote:
"The Taliban liked to machine-gun women in stadiums and collapse walls on gays.
Pretty soon expect shirts with Mullah Omar on them."
Given the complete moral inversion permeating a certain quadrant of a spectrum, I wouldn't be surprised. Unfortunately.
I got that t-shirt for my son; he loves to wear it, so I guess he's inoculated against that particular moral inversion for when he goes off to college in a few years. And we don't have that much of a Che problem where I live, but some idiot did spraypaint a Viva Che on the sidewalk near my house. I went right home and got the can of grey spraypaint I keep handy for such occasions, and took care of it. It's faster than calling public works.
"Che: He Didn'd Kill Nearly As Many as Mao or Stalin"
Or maybe:
"Che: The Most Popular Mass Murderer of the 20th Century"