Let Them Eat Che

Much has been written about Hollywood’s obsession with Communist poster child and fashion icon Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Despite the protestations of those who actually knew and were tortured or persecuted by Che, the stories of hundreds of thousands of Cuban exiles and a vast body of easily accessible knowledge on the failed state he helped create, the bad boy “Butcher of la Cabaña” still holds an unholy fascination with the historically-challenged. Though Che was opposed to free elections, freedom of religion, free speech, free press, freedom of assembly, and even freewheeling rock and roll, he has morphed into the ultimate freedom fighter célèbre.  Is the phenomenon of the world’s wealthiest and most privileged paying homage to a destroyer of wealth and privilege unique?  In a word: no. 

In school, we’re told we learn history in order to prevent ourselves from repeating the mistakes of the past.  If only that were true.  For those who study history and pay attention to its warning signs, this is a particularly painful period in the annals of western civilization on many fronts; a virtual smorgasbord of willful ignorance and denial.  (more…)