Musings on Che

Bemoaning Hollywood's obsession with Che Guevara from reason.tv- it's the usual screed, but to me, you can break it down thusly:

1. Che was an asshole.
2. Che was a killer.
3. Che wasn't that competent- his hippy-dippy utopianism was a total disaster for Cuba and got him bounced out of power, more or less.

So why the t-shirts? Why the love? Why the hero worship? People take one stand and say you shouldn't wear Che T-Shirts because it's essentially glorifying a communist killers- but let's consider this:

1. Che was a communist.
2. The fact that he is now an icon of capitalism is a perversion of pretty much everything he fought and stood for. So by wearing his t-shirt or watching movies about him or shit, even making movies about him, you are essentially perverting everything the man stood for and giving a big 'fuck you' to him and his ideals.

That still doesn't change the fact that was an asshole. But instead of 'your Che t-shirt is about a killer and therefore totally uncool' type of attitudes how about 'your Che t-shirt perverts everything he stood for and is really kind of like pissing all of his grave, congratulations to you' type of attitudes.

What I can't stand are the people that wear Che t-shirts out of some kind of weird political statement in support of him and his ideals. If you stop and think about it- by buying (and wearing) a t-shirt with his face on it, you're actually supporting the polar opposite of his ideals.

So congratulations, you might be kind of dumb.