Let Them Eat Che
by Veronica DiPippoMuch 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.
The warning signs are everywhere and have been reported in this blog and in major publications the world over. But, to Homo sibi destruens, such signs are, once again, patently ignored. Students of history’s flashing red warning lights debate: “Are we repeating all the worst follies of 1929, 1933, 1936 or a combination thereof?” While we’re at it, I’d like to throw another date into the ring: 1782.
That was the year a new play by Pierre Beaumarchais really began to make ripples in pre-revolutionary France. “Le Mariage de Figaro” was a clever comedy about the continuing exploits of The Barber of Seville’s main character, Figaro. The inspiration for Mozart’s opera was, in fact, considered revolutionary, because its main character openly criticized the nobility.
Pierre Beaumarchais
At a climactic moment in the play, Figaro laments:
What! Because you are a great man, you fancy yourself a great genius…. While the obscurity in which I have been cast demanded more abilities to gain a mere subsistence than are requisite to govern empires. And what, most noble Count, are your claims to distinction, to pompous titles, and immense wealth, of which you are so proud, and which, by accident, you possess? For which of your virtues? Your wisdom? Your generosity? Your justice?—The wisdom you have acquired consists in vile arts, to gratify vile passions; your generosity is lavished on your hireling instruments…and your justice is the inveterate persecution of those who have the will and the wit to resist your depredations…But this has ever been the practice of the little great; those they cannot degrade, they endeavor to crush.
- Courtesy of The Online Library of Liberty
Pretty heady stuff for the 18th Century. No wonder it was banned. One would imagine that France’s nobility would shun a play that so blatantly attacked and ridiculed them. Au contraire, mon ami! Instead of identifying with the character of Count Almaviva, the nobleman Figaro was railing against, the French aristocracy, in a fit of cognitive disconnect worthy of a Hollywood liberal, identified with Figaro, the Count’s lowly servant. Soon, Beaumarchais’ bon mots became all the rage among the very people they scorned and sought to undermine. Despite King Lous XVI’s ban, Figaro quickly topped the must-read list of the French elite. All those who desired a reputation as a wit, daring lover of the risqué and trend-setting raconteur simply had to have it read in their parlors by the author himself.
The so-called “smart set” went mad for Beaumarchais’ little golden piece of “Parisiana,” and the mocking relish with which the writer recited it to their faces. The fact that it decried everything they stood for was of little consequence. By being in on the joke, by nodding and winking along with Beaumarchais, weren’t they proving that the author was, in fact, not talking about them? He was speaking of other obscenely wealthy, privileged members of the nobility.
As the French royalty’s disconnect with reality grew, so concurrently did Figaro’s cult status. By June of 1783, the demand for a production of the play half the nobility already knew by heart was so overwhelming, a performance was ordered for the Court. However, King Louis lost his nerve at the last moment and had it cancelled. The French courtiers, unable to endure any deprivation when it came to their enjoyment, reacted by mounting their own private production that was “secretly” played before over two hundred of high society’s crème de la crème. They laughed and cheered and applauded the play whose very words – when finally performed for the public in 1784 – would, according to biographer Hilaire Belloc, “act like an acid, to the destruction of all their world.”
As we know, the French Revolution did not deliver on its promise of replacing a repressive society with “liberté, égalité, fraternité” as originally intended. Instead, the vacuum of power it created escalated into the Reign of Terror, during which many of the very people who supported Figaro were murdered, and ultimately culminated in the rise of a dictator. This historic pattern was also repeated during the Cuban Revolution.
Cuban Firing Squad
Today, free societies have unprecedented access to information. Unlike the French nobility who could not even conceive of the terrible results a revolution would yield, we do know how Che Guevara’s brainchild played out in our world. The Internet is filled with first-hand accounts of Cuban repression and brutality. Most poignant, perhaps, for any artist enjoying the free exercise of their art in a country of unparalleled freedom, are the accounts of writers, poets, artists, and musicians who have been persecuted and imprisoned for the crime of merely expressing themselves.
The fact that any self-respecting artist would champion an oppressor of artists is disturbing to say the least. In a breathtaking act of obstinate unawareness, America’s Che-lovers have recklessly endorsed a system of government, which – were it ever allowed to flourish on these shores – would necessarily result in their own destruction.
The Reign of Terror
If you don’t believe me, just ask “Joe.” I met Joe at a Hollywood party a few years ago, sitting silently, shaking his head amongst all the animated political discussions loudly commandeered by those whose primary sources consisted of MSNBC’s talking points or the latest Wahhabi mouthpiece planted here by our enemies.
Born in Cuba, Joe’s successful parents were big supporters of the Cuban Revolution. Unfortunately, after Castro ousted Batista, he neglected to establish a democracy. As Castro seized control of the country, he also decided to seize control of Joe’s family home along with all their assets. After being tipped off by a friend that there was a price on their heads, Joe’s parents fled with him to America.
One wonders if it will take something equally catastrophic to awaken America’s elite Che-worshippers to the bitter fruits borne of their political preferences. Safely ensconced in wealth and luxury on par with the pre-revolutionary French nobility, the red flags of history sadly pass them by. Instead, they choose to remain blissfully unaware of how easily the bubbles of privilege can be burst.
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153 Comments
I thought it was you. You'll never catch me. I told the administrators that you're really the illegitimate grandfather of A. Huffington. They told me they'd never let you get to 100.
Soring perhaps, but not soaring…
They're still trying to clean up the mess inherited from the Bush administration. Laura is wondering how a box of movies got lost while moving and the iPod was found in a staffer's desk.
Or better yet, an album by the Soviet-sponsored 80's hair metal band, Gorky Park (Perestroyka proves that it rocks!).
I'd like to ask my former classmates from art school what they think of Obama's tacky Egg of Power sculpture. Maybe his bad taste will recompense me for all the battering I took for Bush's public speaking.
No fair. I'm telling mommy on you. You're being mean. And she's my daughter, not my granddaughter, so there. OOOPS.
Hey, I'm back to 99. Oh oh, that means I'm close to 100. Nobody knows what happens then. Could it be cosmic one-ness? Perhaps we start over? Maybe we just flash out of existence. This is scary stuff…
You know what's interesting to me about the French Revolution, is how it wanted to emulate ours, but it went so wrong so fast. I think that says so much for our Founding Fathers that they never fell into dictatorship or chaos. It really shows how extraordinary they were.
Brisco's probably on the right track. You'll roll over, and we'll have to put an imaginary 1 in front of your numbers. And like a rolled-back odometer, you will appear newer than you actually are. Isn't that fraud?
That depends on what the meaning of "is" is.
So if you had control of everything the world would be right wing conservative?
I think you need to rethink your position here.
First EVERYBODY shills for something.
It is up to people to parse the facts from the propoganda.
And BTW what is an atheist book store? Every bookstore I have been in sells religious books. Should they only be religious bookstores? They have those, which is fine – but I don't think bookstores in general try to be religious or non religious.
Sarkozy's a strange dude, but one thing I can admire about him is that he's not a kiss@ss, so Obama knows not to snub him. If he does, it will be one instance where I look forward to French nuance.
might be putrid, but it brings home to bacon,
no reason to exacerbate…
Andrew – what did you expect the big O and Michelle to give – books? First off, the big O spent 3 years trying to write an outline of his first book, he even traveled back to Malaysia. He flopped and had to give the advance back – at which point the 'guy in the neighborhood' sat down and wrote the damned thing for him. Second – well, if you think the big O can't write, you should look at Michelle's Princeton thesis. I swear, my 9 year old niece could write something better with a crayon. Nope – face it – next to these two, the people at WalMarts are a BIG step up in the taste department.
After all the Obama/state department insults of UK and the crown, I'd say the best riposte by QEII would have been to greet Obama with, "So, what African country do YOU represent, sir?"
Thanks, Stan. I'm a history buff and when I came across this info recently, I just couldn't resist. The parallels are just so clear.
"..Che is the icon of Marxist/Leninist economic ideology…you stick his face on anything and it sells."
Bwwwaahhhahahahahah! Here's what 'Che' sold in America. $1,369,740. Yup, that's it folks – less than one and a half million bucks on a picture that cost 3 years and (at least) $40,000,000 to produce and sell. And if you're thinking overseas might love the little sadistic bastard any more than us, guess again – foreign box office for 'Che' was $236,423. Yup, less than quarter of a million.
Oh, pay back is so sweet!
Here's a question for you. What was the real disposition of Aristide ouster in Haiti. The American government put him into office under Bill Clinton. It is my understanding he is a Marxist. I was surprised how little seemed to b e reported on that story.
Maybe Obama can give the Queen a DVD of that……….
I think, as the author mentions, most (at least the younger ones) are never really educated to the reality. When they are they can't personalize any of it. I mean we've been at war for nearly a decade now and because these people still have their big screen TVs, their cell phones, their iPods, their Prius', their 5 minute trips to the convenience store at any hour, their bar nights… things haven't changed for them. Even when the "evil" Bush was running things, they never had to give anything up, make any kind of sacrifice, unlike the people who actually had to live under thugs like Che. There's nothing wrong with those material things by the way, but it lends to the disconnect they have. They can't relate. To them, it's just a cool image on a shirt and the word revolution.
I think, as the author mentions, most (at least the younger ones) are never really educated to the reality. When they are they can't personalize any of it. I mean we've been at war for nearly a decade now and because these people still have their big screen TVs, their cell phones, their iPods, their Prius', their 5 minute trips to the convenience store at any hour, their bar nights… things haven't changed for them. Even when the "evil" Bush was running things, they never had to give anything up, make any kind of sacrifice, unlike the people who actually had to live under thugs like Che. There's nothing wrong with those material things by the way, but it lends to the disconnect they have. They can't relate. To them, it's just a cool image on a shirt and the word "revolution".
One of the great villians of the French Revolution was I believe the name is Fabre d'Eglantine. This guy would accuse the landed gentry of some crime and the mob would guillotine them. Then he would use his influence in the Councel of Twelve to quietly abscond with their wealth all legal like.
Government bailouts are now used today to take over interests in private enterprises and political hacks decide who is a CEO, who gets a bonus, what cars we will be allowed to buy…………
There are the beginnings of stark simularities.
In my opinion, the greatest distinction between the French Revolution and America's is that America was free of Europe's baggage, which allowed for the promotion of John Locke's individualism and the protestant work ethic. To this day, Europe's most detrimental influence is its own history.
"Che's life is an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom. We will always honor his memory."
— Nelson Mandela
"Che is not only an intellectual, he was the most complete human being of our time, our eras most perfect man."
— Jean Paul Sartre
Hmm … civil rights icon and intellectual giant of 20th century philosophy … or some hack blogging on a right-wing website ???
This is a tough one (eye roll)
"At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality… We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity will be transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force."
~ CHE GUEVARA
Well, that didn't take long.
Oh no, appeal to authority!
Or would you like to talk to some of my professors, who were beaten senseless by Castro's Secret Police for merely leaving the UofHavana's print shop available for non-sanctioned cartoonists to use?
Maybe you'd like to go down to Versailles Cafe and talk to people who have lost their brothers and sons to Che's firing squads?
Never mind, they merely witnessed what Che was really about. They don't matter.
*MissQuinn*
To: "Oh no facts ! … " and "Mark H"
Re: Che
See Wikipedia article. You two should like Wikipedia, where if you don't like the facts you can change them!
(…until someone calls BS…)
Interesting bit: During this period he acquired his famous nickname, due to his frequent use of the Argentine diminutive interjection che, a slang casual speech filler used similarly to "eh" or "pal." See che article.
Shouting "Che! Che!" is like shouting "Dude! Dude!" Makes as much sense too.
PT 2 But folks it is simple. Totalitairans cannot abide someone more popular that they also cannot control. It was a stroke of genius to send Che to Bolivia to die. What an idiot. Castro is an a-hole, but he is smart, and he is still around in a turnip kind of way. Where is Che, JFK, RFK, Johnson, Nixon, Ford (Carter is reportedly alive, but nothing living could be as stupid and bitter), and Reagan? Khruschev, Brezhnev, Yelsin, Mao, Kim Il I, Ho Chi Min? He outlived them all. Comments please, unless you are one of the legion of ghouls that still like Carter of the living dead.
You might want to check your Thomas Paine. I think there is a divergence between the two writers that can only be described as a "world apart". Patrick Henry may have been a more suitable candidate for comparison. So back to Easy Company, and put another cigar in your pie hole Sarge, there's a platoon of German Panther Ds occupying that next French village and the longer you spend being wrong about Thomas Paine, the less chance you'll have getting a pass to Paris.
"Versailles restaurant" in Miami is home to the Cuban exile assassins, TERRORISTS and CIA backed killers, the likes of Luis Posada Carriles ("South America's Bin Laden" who blew up Cubana Flight 455 in 1976), Orlando Bosch (his partner in crime), Felix Rodriguez (point man for Oliver North in Iran/Contra, trained central American death squads, ordered execution of Che Guevara), Alpha 66 (Latino Al Qaeda), Brigade 2506, etc – they all attack Cuba, blow up hotel lobbies, hijack ferries and planes, strafe Cuban beaches with gun fire, drop poisonous pathogens on Cuban crops, poison Cuban water supplies, etc while being harbored in Miami with U.S. $$$. I think I'll pass chatting with those brown shirt traitors who would gladly starve their former countrymen when not literally killing them.
… Well eventually someone was going to break up the groupthink right-wing circle jerk.
Reality is such a buzzkill. American conservatives little often encounter it.
The biggest histroic fallacy presently is that Capitalism won the cold war …
when really it is just now starting to collapse under its own contradictions.
Eventually a vulture runs out of blood to suck and corpses to scavenge.
Marx will appear prohetic in about 20 years.
Yeah, and those would be the family members of Batista’s goons, BRAC secret police, and WAR CRIMINALS who killed 20,000 Cubans (a few hundred of which did get the firing squad at La Cabana after a revolutionary tribunal process Che Guevara oversaw).
Oh yeah, and the former MAFIA (and their relatives) who ran Cuba as America's W#orehouse and Casino. There is a reason that pre-Castro Cuba was the favorite hangout for mobsters Meyer Lansky, Santo Trafficante, and Lucky Luciano.
vd (appropriate name), a "history buff" (haha)
She actually shows very little understanding of Che Guevara or the French revolution. But then again appearing witty to the low hanging fruit that frequents this site isn't exactly a chore. Any literate person who has ever read any of the 10 main Che biographies would instantly spot the littany of myths, lies, and outright fables that she regurgitates with ease (most taken from Humberto Fontova the comical clown).
Stick to make-up, or maybe fashion design baby … leave books to the adults.
A prime example of a blithering spoon fed intellectually lazy liberal nit-wit. Che was a murdering thug whose ideas are as stupid as the people that follow his myth. Such hollow misguided idol worship is a true sign of an Obot, and a definite degree holder, or seeker at one of our finer universities. Reorder a latte’ at your local Starbucks, pack your bags and haul a$$ to that garden spot Cuba, Venezuela and join the movement, “free health care,” don’t you know. All the while bask in the searing wisdom of Mandela, and Sartre as you begin to yearn for a simple cheeseburger and your X-Box, fool!
If you get your history only from sympathizers of Communism, you'll miss the whole truth. There are thousands of testimonies from eyewitness accounts of his brutality, torture and murder. I guess it was all for the common good, tho', correct?
What did Che do? Do you know? What he believed? Obviously not. Can we take potshots at previous decisions made by this country? Of course, hell Bay of Pigs was a dem mistake not a conservative one. And who is all about oligarchy? Not conservatives. The creation of a social nationalist policy is democrat/fascist/progressive truth, not mine. Last I knew no American political party loved the US Mafia, or perhaps I saw somewhere in LBJ's or Goldwater's platform that they wanted the Mafia vote. Do I need to go on?
Che was a thug, a fascist dictitorial thug who enjoyed killing people and bending those who he didn't kill to his will. That is all, nothing more. Any move to glorify him based on the fact he opposed some things that many of us would and do oppose anyway in no way excuses his behavior. You are sounding like the miguided fools that every fascist loves to play as the patsey.
And to ask… "What the hell" does that have to do with MissQuinn's comment? Absolutely NOTHING. You can't answer the charges, so you throw this tripe up?
Marx will appear prohetic in about 20 years – didn't I hear this exact same thing about 20 years ago? It' slike an endless cycle for leftists… "Oh, Marxism didn't work here.. because they didn't know the "correct" way to run it"… then it fails under that regime… "oh, it didn't work here, because they didn't know the "correct" way to run it"… then it fails.. "oh it didn't work because…"
I think it was Einstein(?) who said "Insanity is doing the exact same thing over and over and expecting different results'.
Your history is so poor it's laughable. Are you an American college professor?
I'm not sure why you would be surprised. The media wouldn't have criticized Clinton if he'd put the cookie monster in charge. That was the Clinton's nation building phase and the media was excited that Clinton was going to use the military to create wonderful "soft" socialist governments all over the world.
That reminds me of a joke by Chris Rock about books and cryptonite, but I probably shouldn't tell it.
I have one of those shirts – the "Commies Aren't Cool!" one. If someone came out with toilet paper with Che's picture on each square or clay pigeons (for skeet shooting) with his picture on them, I might buy those.
It just kills liberals that their hero Che thought the only way way to keep people in line was the firing squad. He was ruthless and brutal. He shot, or had shot by firing squad, anyone who dissented. He actually did what the left accuses Bush of doing. He idolized Stalin who had, some estimates say 20 million of his own people murdered.
Oh, but he was nice because he read novels to his men in between "campaigns" (read executions).
Yeah, and Hitler loved his dog.
Let's see, he was widely regarded as second only to Castro in Cuba yet Cuba never turned into a paradise for the hungry and oppressed did it? In fact, there are still lots hungry and oppressed people there today. Just ask any of the 21 journalists jailed there for daring to criticize the Catro government and the Che legacy. If it weren't for the Soviets, Cuba's economy, what there was of it after the revolution, would have collapsed. Proof of that is the how Cuba's economy went into a nosedive after Soviet withdrawal of financial subsidies in 1990.
Cubans having communism forced on them by Castro and and Che have really become a world power haven't they? They've become THE symbol of what's right in the world, haven't they?
With heroes like that, who needs enemies?
It just kills liberals that their hero, Che, thought the only way to keep people in line was the firing squad. He was ruthless and brutal. He shot, or had shot by firing squad, anyone who dissented. He actually did what the left accuses Bush of doing. He idolized Stalin who had, some estimates say 20 million of his own people murdered.
Oh, but he was nice because he read novels to his men in between "campaigns" (read executions).
Yeah, and Hitler loved his dog.
Let's see, he was widely regarded as second only to Castro in Cuba yet Cuba never turned into a paradise for the hungry and oppressed did it? In fact, there are still lots hungry and oppressed people there today. Just ask any of the 21 journalists jailed there for daring to criticize the Catro government and the Che legacy. If it weren't for the Soviets, Cuba's economy, what there was of it after the revolution, would have collapsed. Proof of that is the how Cuba's economy went into a nosedive after Soviet withdrawal of financial subsidies in 1990.
Cubans having communism forced on them by Castro and and Che have really made them a world power haven't they? They've become THE symbol of what's right in the world, haven't they?
With heroes like that, who needs enemies?
It has to do with her comment, because she told me to go to this right-wing fascist hangout in Miami, where these actual terrorists are hosted as celebrities to this very day ! Irony noted.
Che reviewed the appeals of men convicted as War Criminals after a revolution. War is bloody, and a few hundred were executed. Does that make him a "terrorist" or "evil" etc ? Hmm I don't know, Truman nuked 2 Japanese cities and killed 250,000 Civilians does that make him evil or a terrorist? What about fire bombing Dresden only about 15 years before Che … should the U.$. be judged as evil by that, or is all fair in love and war ? Every American leader from George Washington in addition to owning hundreds of slaves (executed 10 French diplomats as young man) to Lincoln who had 38 Sioux hung and executed for rebellion have blood on their hands. Quit being so silly and naive.
And Walter Duranty of the New York Times wrote that the famine in the Ukraine was a myth. Meanwhile, this man socialized with high-ranking members of the Soviet regime including members of the NKVD (the predessessor of the KGB).
If capitalism didn't destroy the Soviet Union and win the cold war, what did? If the west had nothing to with it's demise, what brought down the workers paradise?
<Waits. Taps foot. Looks at watch. Hums "Star Spangled Banner" Taps foot>
Well? I'm waiting…
Maybe it's Ward Churchill pretending to be Cuban, since pretending to be an Indian didn't work out so swell for him after all…
As a lover of Marxism what’s your favorite part? Do you presently live in one of the many remaining Marxist garden spots like (Cuba, North Korea), and if not when do you plan to leave? As an aspiring Apparatchik and lover of Che, and hater of America who are your favorite Communist icons? If you do not serve the interest of the USA, whose interest do you serve? As someone who has actually read 10 Che Biographies (get a life) do you presently work in the USA, own a business or are you a parasite? If not I recommend 60 to 80 hrs. of work a week, you have to much time on your hands, perhaps you can cut sugarcane for Fidel, (free healthcare don’t you know) viva-la-revolution?
See this is where El Che messed up …
He should have
- Bought a peasant girl, made her his slave, then raped her and had her give birth to his child (Jefferson)
- Next Che should have made all the rich oligarchs walk hundreds of miles before leaving the country in a 'trail of tears' (Jackson)
- Once his legend was solidified he could send one of his commanders to do a 'march to the sea' where he burned out all the govt homes and Batistaites who had been defeated (Lincoln/Sherman).
It's a shame he didn't follow the great paths history already laid out for him … then instead of being on the 3 Cuban peso he could be on the U.$. dollar bill !
As a lover of Marxism what’s your favorite part? Do you presently live in one of the many remaining Marxist garden spots like (Cuba, North Korea), and if not when do you plan to leave? As an aspiring Apparatchik and lover of Che, and hater of America who are your favorite Communist icons? If you do not serve the interest of the USA, whose interest do you serve? As someone who has actually read 10 Che Biographies (get a life) do you presently work in the USA, own a business or are you a parasite? If not I recommend 60 to 80 hrs. of work a week, you have to much time on your hands, perhaps you can cut sugarcane for Fidel, viva-la-revolution?
Yes it was indeed Einstein that said that Mark, I've been using that quote on socialists for years now. But they keep making the same mistake by saying,"Yeah but we could do it right!" which means, obviously, they're no Einsteins.
Only in America (a nation that spends money with the faces of slave owners on it) could you gind this glaring hypocrosy.
American Che-hating is truly breath-taking in its idiocy.
A nation founded on the deaths of millions of brown people, built on the backs of millions of black and yellow people, who then tries to criticize El Che for having a few hundred goons & rapists shot by firing squad after a revolution.
Unreal.
By THAT twisted reasoning, Capitalism should be booming in every single Communist country on earth, because their relentless murderous secret police goon squads always provide an unending supply of dissident "corpses to scavenge".
"Dissident" meaning anyone, young or old, who in any way shape or form is "guilty" of THOUGHTCRIME.
Somebody please buy this imbecile a copy of 1984.
~ Che Guevara, On Capitalism, 1965 ~
"In capitalist society individuals are controlled by a pitiless law usually beyond their comprehension. The alienated human specimen is tied to society as a whole by an invisible umbilical cord: the law of value."
"The laws of capitalism, blind and invisible to the majority, act upon the individual without his thinking about it. He sees only the vastness of a seemingly infinite horizon before him. That is how it is painted by capitalist propagandists, who purport to draw a lesson from the example of Rockefeller — whether or not it is true — about the possibilities of success.
The amount of poverty and suffering required for the emergence of a Rockefeller, and the amount of depravity that the accumulation of a fortune of such magnitude entails, are left out of the picture."
"While a person dies every day during the eight or more hours in which he or she functions as a commodity, individuals come to life afterward in their spiritual creations. But this remedy bears the germs of the same sickness: that of a solitary being seeking harmony with the world."
(Che 1 —- Von Mises 0)
Opinions are like, well you. Facts trump a good theory or a good story anytime. You have not learned that lesson, which makes you're life, well, empty and meaningless.
thanks for sharing.
How the American REICH-WING MIND WORKS …
- Nuking 250,000 Japanese civilians = Good
- Che overseeing the execution of former Dictator Batista’s torturers = Bad
- Genocidal Presidents (millions of Natives) on US $ = Good
- T-shirt with Cuba's National Hero’s face on it = Bad
- US Jets Shock and Aweing Iraq and killing thousands of people = Freedom
- Che traveling to Bolivia to fight for the landless peasants = Terrorism
- Guerrilla & Slave Owner George Washington shooting the enemy = Hero
- Guerrilla Che Guevara shooting the enemy = Assassin
- The US invading Vietnam and causing 2 million civilian deaths = Freedom
- Che killing a total of around 50 Bolivian soldiers in an attempt to topple an oligarchy = Terrorism
"Obama could have robbed the Queen today and they would be fallen over themselves to praise the smoothness with which he pistol whipped her."
This has just GOT to be the funniest quip of the day (perhaps of the week?!).
Fabulous! ; – )
Man this is sad. While slavery was quite a blight, it did not result in "millions of black and yellow people dying." No facts support that. And, criticizing a murderer is simply that.
Personally I don't hate Che and I don't have Stalin. But, I don't make them out to be anything but what they were. Killer and thugs. It was what it was.
Indeed, you live in Cuba and enjoy its prosperity, freedom and heritage, no>?
Oh, no? What keeps you here, the weather?
No there is a fine historian. Good one.
Hey blame Columbus not me, he was the one that wasn't so swell with the geography/naming thing. Oh wait, some people already do blame Columbus, what was I thinking?
I’m sorry Marcos. So you do love Marxism? Who is your favorite despotic Socialist/Marxist dictator, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hilter, Castro, Chavez? When you snuggle up with the writings of Mao do you get a tingle up your leg? Are you in the eh…hmm… in the education field? When can we expect you to leave the USA?
—-> A NEW DEFINITION FOR “CHUTZPAH”
When someone who supports the same country that killed 15 million Natives because they felt it was their ‘manifest destiny’ … the same country whose CIA has killed 6 million people since 1950 (John Stockwell) … the same country that invaded Iraq which has caused 950,000 + deaths …
Not to mention propped up the many brutal tyrants like Pinochet, Suharto, Marcos, and Somoza … backed contra movements through the School of the Americas …
—> HAS THE CHUTZPAH to pretend to be upset that Cuba under CHE had tribunals (just like the Nuremburg one after WWII the US had) and then as a result had a few hundred of the brutal dictator Batista’s convicted henchmen, rapists, & torturers (most who were the secret police of the BRAC and who had killed 20,000 people) executed at La Cabana.
WOW … there are no words for the audacity of such insanity !
Amerikkkan Reich-Wing Propaganda would make Goebbels blush.
The concept of "Love" to a "true revolutionary" is exactly the same as the concept of "Democratic" is to the "Democratic" Republic of North Korea.
Fool.
A New Definition for "Schmuck" : Carlos.
Your ideas, arguments and grasp of history are so feeble and simpleminded that all your posts should be compiled together into a TV ad, as they make a very compelling argument in favor of expanding the school voucher program.
There is NO way I believe you pay even a dime in taxes.
And stop using the word "chutzpah", it makes me ashamed to think that you might actually be J*w*sh.
BOTH SIDES CALM DOWN !
We're living in a time of instantly-gratifying selective history; if you’re a conservative you can log onto Amazon right now and find a book that supports your ideology. If your a liberal – likewise. There are plenty of books expounding on the heroic feats of the liberator, Che Guevara. On the flip side there are plenty that rail against all the atrocities he committed. These are then “proven” or “disproved” by a series of other books.
There’s a reason why Che (the Robin Hood myth) is still compelling. Regardless of his actual exploits, the myth depicts a character who overthrows a brutal dictatorship by rallying the common folk. He takes land from wealthy foreigners who’ve exploited the poor and gives it away. He fights in another continent to help free South African blacks. He thumbs his nose at a superpower which has grown incredibly arrogant and belligerent in it’s meddling. There’s a lot to like in that for anyone (regardless of its lack of accuracy).
Michael Moore. I think Carlos lives in the room above his attic, in exchange for the rent free conditions he was the primary research source for "Sicko."
DEATH COUNT:
CHE GUEVARA = few hundred of Batista’s henchmen, torturers, and rapists.
REAGAN = 1 million Iraqi/Iranians by selling weapons to both sides
CONTRA death squads that lead to the deaths of 70,000 in El Salvador, more than 100,000 in Guatemala, and 30,000 in Nicaragua.
CHE < REAGAN "the real Butcher"
"Those persons executed by Guevara or on his orders were condemned for the usual crimes punishable by death…rape, torture or murder."
So is what you're saying Che condemned HIMSELF to death?
When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus replied " Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."
Che was an atheist.
Jesus said "love your enemies" and "bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.". Che said to shoot them.
Oh yeah, why the comparisons are endless.
Oh $hit, are you that scum bag Rev Wright? You know your Amerikkkan comment. I' m sorry I missed it. When are you moving to Cuba?
Che Guevara ……… hero, rebel, saint, icon, guerrilla, poet, politician, statesman, doctor, writer, theorist, etc etc
The right-wing dingbats wouldn’t know a hero if one teabagged em.
Well, I once got stuck in traffic during the Columbus Day parade in NYC, and I must confess I blamed him for THAT…
JESUS: "I came to bring a sword"
CHE: "I Brought it !"
The God" of the Bible sounds similar to Che …
James 5:1-6: "Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you."
By those anally produced "facts" then, you should be trading in your Che T-Shirt for one with Reagan on it.
It’s politically blasphemous to say anything positive, or even nuanced about Che around right-wing Americans. Worldwide, however, the loathing of Che is an extreme minority view.
Che was more complex and contradictory an historical figure than some people understand.
However simple minded Americans like their characters to be unambiguous and simple: Good OR Bad; Black OR White; Saint OR Sinner, etc. In reality, things are rarely so simple.
The hysteria and the manic frustration expressed by right-wingers regarding the continuing—and growing—popularity and iconic status of Che is in itself very revealing. Complexity is not their strong suit. Seeing more than the surface is a little hard for right-wingers. Everyone must fit into the “Superman vs. Lex Luthor” box. Reality is harder to pigeonhole.
What?
To me Che Guevara is one of the most heroic figures in world history who is a stoic example of what all those who speak of “revolution” should espouse to be.
This was a man who left a bourgeoisie comfortable life of the upper class, a potential well compensated career as a medical doctor, and a high regarded governmental position — each time to slog through the jungle and fight guerrilla wars against impenetrable odds = for a better and more equitable society.
I find his life not only fascinating but deeply inspiring.
So if I go into a liberal hangout.. anything they say is wrong/right because they're talking? Where a message occurs has nothing to do with what the message is. But hey, ignore the message attack the messenger! Typical Leftist/Socialist attack response.
Yeah, and hundreds of thousands of whites fought to free 'em. Don't let that fact stop your diatribe though.
Whitey just sat in his house all day and did nothing. The only injustices ever committed were by the white man…
I see – OK. I guess someone needs to find you and of course demonstrate Che's inspiring life for you in person. I am sure they can find some injustice done somewhere to properly "outrage" themselves by the time they get there.
Are you serious? He left a bourgeoise life to become a fanatical murderer? That is inspiring? Whoa. I guess it does take all types but that is way out there.
Not you Golani our dim-witted Marxist, this is fun, huh?
Not you Golani, I’m referring to our dim-witted Marxist, this is fun, huh?
Hehe thought so but had to make sure.
Dimwitted and Marxist sort of goes together like peanut butter and chocolate though don't they?
But the reference applies to all, Capitalists and Communists, who are rotten. Che condemned Capitalists, whether they were rotten or not, and gave Communists a pass, no matter how rotten.
You really have like a man love of Che, huh? You’re funny, you left-wing myrmidon, you don’t know when you’ve got it good, as you sip your caramel latte’ and dream of revolution thank god your in the greatest country the world has ever known, The USA! When are you moving to Cuba!
You really have like a man love of Che, huh? You’re funny, you left-wing myrmidon, you don’t know when you’ve got it good, as you sip your caramel latte’ and dream of revolution thank god your in the greatest country the world has ever known, The USA! When are you moving to Cuba?
I disagree with you on one main point and that is 'education today' and 'current fad'.
I was in college in the 1980's and it was pretty much the same. I would say it's been this way since the late 60's. Now, since I'm a bit left of center I'm not as bothered by the teaching of history. Afterall I came through it with a healthy appreciation of America despite some of the faults. As far as Che is concerned he has become a symbol that far exceeds the reality. And that symbol is the earnest working people vs the evil rich establishment. It's pretty tough to recast him in a different light – even if history shows his symbol is false.
Viva la Reagan Revolución!
I have one of those shirts actually.
Yes, everyone calm down. You are being irrational. We in Cuba think Che was good man. You Americans just don't like him because he was homosxual.
I haven't met those people. But nice smoke screen…I'm talking about people who watched their siblings dragged out of the house in the middle of the night. Their names weren't important enough for you to think about. I'm talking about older gay people who were beaten by this supposedly progressive government. I'd love to see you tell THEM how good Che was for their community. Che was a homophobic pig. But I notice not alot of people like to talk about that either.
I'm waiting for your next smokescreen.
*MissQuinn*
Che didn't finish medical school. And he seemed more interested in ending lives than saving them.
*MissQuinn*
Of course they exist in the USA, if they actually lived under a communist regime they'd either be dead or trying to figure out how to make their '57 Chevy float. The only people who fully support communism are people who either are apparatchiks of said states, or have never felt the effects of communism for themselves.
Unfortunately the tools are encouraged to vote, which means they could well get their dream job in the Che State without having to leave the US; while the rest of us get a crash course in what it means to be one of the "others" that people like Che was so efficient at dealing with.
Sorry Senor, but fascism and communism are the same thing — just different colored shirts. idiot.
Che was also an excellent dancer. It is true. You American pigs do not know this. He used to don beautiful pink ballgowns when he killed capitalist pigs. It was very touching.
That’s funny! Row Carlos, row Marcos, Key West is only 60 miles, Che spews with a firm expression, “viva-la-revolution!”
It’ll be a bit more interesting in the States. Conservative freedom loving Americans are thoroughly armed.
absolutely nothing heroic about the man; the death he died when the Bolivian peasnats turned on his was appropo… however left wing revisionism and myth making is a full time duty so keep at it… it's funny the ahteistic lefyies comparing him to Christ…
Changing the subject… The last refuge of a scoundrel.
That's a bourgeois lie! EVERYBODY knows that it was a white tutu he wore. The masses must know the facts!
Che was evil.
Lex Luthor, on the other hand, was merely misunderstood.
That depends- are you offering to represent me? And if so, what's your cut?
I still (allegedly) suffer to this day from PTSD because of that traffic jam, and we might be looking at Big Bucks here!
; – )
That's because you have no actual idea of what constitutes heroism. You believe that a sadistic, mass-murdering troublemaker is worthy of honor because he chose to shoot children in the head rather than heal the sick. Hitler displayed more physical courage on the Western Front than the cowardly dog Che did throughout his "guerrilla" career.
Che's "better and more equitable society" turned out to be a dictatorship far worse (and, alas, more enduring) than the one he fought to overthrow — a giant island prison where "citizens" are imprisoned or murdered for attempting to escape. He yearned for a nuclear war and was worshiped Stalin.
Why not admire someone who actually did fight for a humane and free society (history provides many examples), rather than a cheap thug whose only desire was to be the one holding the whip?
Did someone say fee? I'm on board.
Its amazing. Pinochet is a right wing pig because he killed in the name of his cause. However Che is a hero for killing people in the name of his cause.
The Che worshipers don't care about the deaths, they only care who's doing the killing
Please visit http://www.che-mart.com The ultimate capitalist tribute to Che.
Perhaps El Teacher also admires Dr. Mengele for giving up his cushy private practice in exchange for a posting at that depressing Auchwitz place. He did it "for the children," you know…
"Ends justify the means" is the mantra of all communists. Of course in Cuba they still call themselves revolutionaries while torturing and imprisoning and killing anyone who dares question their government. Oh the irony!
Sounds like what will be happening in American 2010…
And my poor neck is hurting more and more as we speak.
I'm pretty sure I've been having nightmares about traffic jams too. And my left eye twitches uncontrollably every time I hear the name "Columbus" (wink, wink).
Hey man you got it completely wrong. I figured since maybe have you were a dogface like me, you’d get the Army humor. But I kinda’ think you maybe ain’t so…Infantry….probably a loggie or a trans guy…or even worse, Air Force.
“Rights of Man” is precursor anarchic liberalism by which we suffer today. “The Age of Reason”, his other popular tome, brought him fortune. But like the liberals who believe in nothing except themselves, he ended up disillusioned and broken and drunk…equals crazy…like liberals, and foisted a lot of bad ideas on the nation. Read McMaster’s History of the People of the United States. He did an eyebrow raising piece on your hero.
And go get a sense of humor from CIF, you sound like you got your ACH on too tight. And while you’re at it, get a size XS for that groin protector on your IBA, you sound like you got a lot of sand in your clit Ranger.
Even we right-wing hacks need sleep. The Kos Kids must have started posting about the time I went to bed last night. I would have thanked them for their insightful and courteous replies to my post, but it looks like the rest of you did my work for me.
I remind you all of the old saying, "Never get into a hissing contest with a snake. The snake always wins." I'm sure that after getting the gang all riled up, the snakes are now happily sunning themselves, building up their fresh supply of venom. Whenever possible, I simply avoid snakes.
Just got outta bed a little while ago. Did I miss anything?
Es verdad – Herr Hitler was wounded TWICE on the Western Front during the First World War. He was a message runner, one of the riskiest jobs on the front and was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class – RARELY awarded to enlisted men. Che, on the other hand, was a bumbling military leader who, instead of fighting to the death, was captured alive with a full magazine in his rifle. "I'm worth more to you alive," he alledgedly told his captors.
And I hear the fangs make great needles for sewing.
Sorry Lawhawk! I got to my desk at 6:30 AM ET, somehow DFTT didn’t do it for me. I took it as a direct assault on the WBS-Wheelbarrow Beer Syndicate. Actually it was kind of fun in a sick way?
Maybe if we give them a couple of complementary cervezas, they'll go away? And it might open a whole new market–the caves.
Nice try, but not even close.
Nice try, Carlos, but not even close.
For those of you just joining us, SGT Rock is one of those guys that gets a great handle and acts like he's been in the Army. Apparently still bitter over his less than impressive performance in 66, he stinks up his back blast area with screams about how everyone else is phony. Sounds like someone lost his favorite seat at the local VFW bar. Anyway, go ahead and hang on to that 1 year of your life, and that baseball hat with all your fake medals and DUCs fro units you were never with. Hey, for about 4 grand, you can book a tour to SE Asia, so you can finally say: "When I was in the Nam" without being a dirt bag liar. God what a loser. And a comic book one at that. Sure hurts to be old and bitter don't it?
For those of you just joining us, SGT Rock is one of those guys that gets a great handle and acts like he's been in the Army. Apparently still bitter over his less than impressive performance in 66, he stinks up his back blast area with screams about how everyone else is phony. Sounds like someone lost his favorite seat at the local VFW bar. Anyway, go ahead and hang on to that 1 year of your life, and that baseball hat with all your fake medals and DUCs from units you were never with on it. Hey, for about 4 grand, you can book a tour to SE Asia, so you can finally say: "When I was in the Nam" without being a dirt bag liar. God what a loser. And a comic book one at that. Sure hurts to be old and bitter don't it?
Well, I know that all MY civil rights heroes had a penchant for shooting bound people in the back of the head.
What, your's don't?
And I blew as many of them as I could. I am a Che ball drainer for the revolution.
I followed that up in "Brave and Bold" Issue 4, Jul '76 "Patrick Scipio Sows His Oaths in Carthage".
Recommended.
Actually, I was wrong. It did take a long time. I thought you folks had action alerts set to come screaming into the comments section of an article that posits doubleplus ungood thems so you can keep Teh Narrative! going. Sheesh. You're slipping.
"Hysteria" accusations coming from people who suddenly swarmed in because Che was not being seen as a great hero by others.
You know, the term "projection" always comes to mind when you folks keep throwing accusation after accusation at those awful people who do not see things your way.
Hey.
as a brown person I must say this.
slave holders were few and far between. second… we 'brown people' are not just brown people…. we are Americans. And my ancestors stuck together (using American spirit) and pulled through. Slavery was a dying fad anyways. I am Native American too… let me tell you…. the trial of tears is NOTHING to the horror that my tribe, many tribes, did to each other before the time of the Europeons. get YOUR history right.
And Comparing Che's horrible evils with another form of evil basically proves the point that Che was evil.
You're a myopic idiot. Don't you have an Art class to attend at "Brainwashed U.". Irish people, Anglo Saxons, and immigranys from Southern Europe did as much or more to build this country as anyone. Believe me, the U.S. would have adapted and over come without "brown skin" people. Che' was a murdering PIG. To bad it took so long for him to die. His image should be spit on daily. In fact I'm peeing on his face right now.
I don't see how that's relevant to my point, but you make for a convenient volunteer to answer my question:
Are you willing to live under any existing communist government today? I don't mean visit, I mean pack up your stuff and spend the rest of your life there. There are boatloads of Cubans who risk their lives to flee Castro's utopia who might offer you some suggestions with that decision.
You're right! Che is totally just like Jesus! I mean, it's bean a while since I read the gospels, but I think I remember a chapter in the book of Matthew where Jesus endorsed a fascist ban on free speech, free religion, private property, and all basic human rights. He said something like, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's", and then capped two children in the head, execution style.
Man, Jesus was a total revolutionary, but he loved mankind, like Che. He killed innocent people out of love, and promoted authoritarian governments in order to proliferate his message of love.
There's no doubt about it. Che = Love. And Jesus. And free speech. Che's awesome.
You're right. Having Cuba pander to American tourist dollars was an eternal sentence to capitalist subjugation, while Castro's solution of no free speech, no free press, and no basic human rights was worth the murder of thousands under Che.
Even if half of Cuba is still illiterate, at least they're not a despicable service economy! Who knows, maybe their civilians would actually not try to escape via the ocean!
Hey everyone its Fidel's nephew ……
Uh excuse me but did not the Cuban military shoot down on unarmed civilian plane for simply dropping leaflets over American Waters and America failed to respond. So what Brothers to the Rescue is now poisoning wells in Cuba. What?
Dude, the legalize drugs debate is 4 posts up from here. You are in the wrong place.
Even American citizens who aren't sensitized to socialist trends are starting to get uncomfortable. This is a culture founded on classical liberalism, not bourgeois phobia.
So is everyoneyou for or against that Neocon Lincoln invading the sovereign south and starting that illegal Civil War. Sure slavery is something we don't agree with but who are we to judge the White Democrats that ran the South. It's just there culture and in their view they are right to do what they did ………..
Beep ….. Non sequitor Progressivism does not compute all units Norman Coordinate BOOOWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…….
Maybe he couldn't find a source because they're all dead.
Or maybe they fled to America. Or maybe he did his research in a communist country. Or maybe he's like the rest of you who actually compare Che to Jesus.
Stick to Mr. Anderson's religious writings. Disillusionment is too disturbing for true believers.
Have you ever tried NOT worshiping a simple human being?
It's tough, because it might require the suspension of dogma, but at least you'll sense a fleeting spark of self-respect.
Hey lookie ……………….
Castro and Chavez have their own versions of Media Matters Trolls too.
Hey Lookie…..
Chavez's version of a Media Matters Troll can rewrite the Bibleas well………………..
You are the Man!!!!
Yeah, Jesus was a total socialist. He had no reason to fear authoritarian governments.
If you've read enough about fascism, you'd know that no scholars agree on its definition. It's the most overused yet vague term in political science. But there are many commonalities among all of its forms and definitions, which include: Authoritarian rule, an urgent government agenda for change or "progress", a secularly religious devotion to the state, and the politicization of everything in civilian life. Doesn't sound too different from communism, does it?
And if communism is about internationalism, why do they have closed societies, i.e. the Steel Curtain? The only way the term "internationalism" applies to communists is when they're invading their international neighbors for conquest and dominion.
A little known story about Che is that Castro fired him as Economy Minister (or whatever they called it) because his incompetence at the job completely ruined what was left of the Cuban economy after being at the job for only two years. The conversation reportedly went like this…
Castro: Comrade Che, I hate to do this, but I must remove you from your post. The economy is in shambles and the people are starving. I thought you said you were an economist?
Che: Economist? Comrade FideI, I apologize for the misunderstanding, but I never said that. I thought you said you were looking for a Communist. My bad.
Please don't insult Myrmidons. In their day the only warriors greater and more honorable were the Spartans. DFTT.
SUA SPONTE
Capitalism has been through much worse, and came out fine. In capitalism, you have business cycles. In socialism, you have a life sentence.
Only a deranged socialist romantically fantasizes about the massive loss of old people's retirement funds.
Robin Hood didn't steal from the rich, he stole from a corrupt government. To compare him to Che is an offense to Western literature.
And if the U.S. was meddling, what would you say the U.S.S.R. was doing? America's actions didn't occur in a vacuum.
Now that is not fair Brisco. No self-respecting socialist progressive Marxist Nietzsche kool-aid media drooling socialite would worship a simple human being solely on the content of their ability to create mass hysteria in an attempted attack against conservatism. My keen intellect notes that from observation and detailed analysis of the commentary supplied by the left on this topic that they have failed to accurately answer a single simple question. Here at the Corporate Evil Right Wing Conspiracy HeadQuarters™ WE call that deflection. It means that they do not know what they are talking about and/or they are not able to produce a sufficiently strong enough argument and instead utilize oxymoron and double speak to paint allegories and attribute titles to a mass murdering sociopathic sycophant. That, for me, is literally the definition of obtuse.
[...] Big Hollywood’s Veronica DiPippo takes the Hollywood left to task over their Che worship and points out how they ignore history, but she does it with a twist. She doesn’t look at the 1920’s and the 1930’s–she goes way back to 1782: That was the year a new play by Pierre Beaumarchais really began to make ripples in pre-revolutionary France. “Le Mariage de Figaro” was a clever comedy about the continuing exploits of The Barber of Seville’s main character, Figaro. The inspiration for Mozart’s opera was, in fact, considered revolutionary, because its main character openly criticized the nobility. [...]
Great thought provoking article. I initially thought that Marcos was joking; it's amazing to me that some people still buy into the communist mythology and hero worship. Stalin 50 million plus killed, Mao 50 Million plus killed, Pol Pot , Idi Amin several million killed. Do today's communists ignore these events, deny them or what? Do you consider Castro's regime a success? If so, why have so many chosen to escape via raft?
[...] see what else…oh a showing of noxious ode to a psychotic murderer Che Guevera, Che. There is an event to celebrate Cuba’s meddling in Southern Africa where [...]
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