I like these t-shirts: 
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Posted on 10/22/2005 12:25:58 PM PDT by wagglebee
Visit almost any American college campus, walk down the streets of practically every city, and you will see idyllic youth proudly wearing a shirt showing a handsome Latino face cast against a sea of customary red – emblems of the personality cult of communist revolutionary Che Guevara. The image of Che attracts many youth in the West; they see only dreaming eyes, wild jet-black hair cascading under a military beret that's crowned with a single soviet star. His face is a stamp on products filling sales racks, a symbol, an icon of pop culture – a patron saint for society's youthful rebels.
He seems to be remembered in the company of heroes: a doctor working for the emancipation of the world's poor, a brilliant intellectual speaking out against American tyranny, a martyr betrayed by an ungrateful world. In this way, nearly 40 years after his execution, Che survives. He lives in the nostalgia of his militant followers, whose ranks swell as new memorabilia confirm the survival of his legacy. Cast in this favorable light, Time magazine places him next to Billy Graham and Anne Frank on the "Top 100s" alphabetical list, writing, "He would resurrect, young people shouted in the late '60s … ¡No lo vamos a olvidar! We won't let him be forgotten." And so the world remembers – yet it also forgets. They remember not a man but a myth.
In reality, Che was an executioner. He personally placed bullets in the heads of hundreds of defenseless prisoners and oversaw the hasty executions at the La Cabaña Fortress prison. Perhaps this was his single military talent, as he showed neither bravery nor skill during actual combat.
In reality, Che never graduated from medical school. He spent his time making, not mending, wounds.
In reality, his writing, dull and devoid of brilliance, bears nothing more than the angry clichés of a violent cause, cries to generate, "two, three, many Vietnams," and exhortations to use "hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become. …"
In reality, Che cared little for the poor and oppressed. The quintessential communist, he spoke of liberating "the poor" while wading in their very blood and appropriating their resources. His actions were resisted by the poor, who revolted against his revolution in Cuba. They were his greatest enemy and helped bring about his death in Bolivia. If Che were truly concerned with their poverty, he would not have lived in an expropriated beachfront mansion in Havana.
Yet somehow Time remembers him as "Che the titan standing up to the Yanquis, the world's dominant power. Che the moral guru proclaiming that a New Man, no ego and all ferocious love for the other, had to be forcibly created out of the ruins of the old one. Che the romantic mysteriously leaving the revolution to continue, sick though he might be with asthma, the struggle against oppression and tyranny."
To those leftists who proudly wear his mug, communism thanks you! And for frequenting hip boutiques, for buying T-shirts and $198 cashmere-wool Che sweaters, for going on Regent Holiday Che tours and to Che movies – capitalism also thanks you for your business.
To those who wear the shirts with the big red head without realizing that he routinely lined people up against a wall and gunned them down, I lament that you misunderstand this man and in whose company he stands. His name should be carved alongside the names of the most evil butchers of history: Arafat, bin Laden, Adolf Hitler, Caesar, Castro, Genghis Khan, Stalin, Ayatollah Khomeini, Lenin, Mao of China, Mussolini of Italy, Nero, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, and now Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
"We won't let him be forgotten."
Francis Pedraza is a 16-year-old from San Diego, Calif., who this year is finishing up a rigorous classical education. During last year's election, Pedraza was active in politics, with his speeches, interviews and public-service announcements airing on the radio around the U.S. He is currently working on his book, "A California Yankee in the Kangaroo Court."
In reality, Che never graduated from medical school. He spent his time making, not mending, wounds.
It's amazing how the left sees no problem is simply ignoring the crimes of their heroes.
You're asking for far too much.
Look at how many dictators Dan Blather hugged up to. He was bestest buddies with ol' Fidel
save
This is an excellent article, and I'm especially impressed that the author is only 16.
About a year ago, a friend's teenaged son wore one of these che t-shirts in my presence. I asked who that was on his shirt. He said, "Some guy named Che." I asked if he knew anything about him and he did not. I gave him a short and to the point history lesson then offered to take that shirt off his back and burn it on the spot. His grandmother had been listening and she added her two cents along with mine. He immediately changed shirts and I haven't seen the che shirt since. His parents had never noticed what was pictured on his shirt. I think they pay a bit more attention now.
ping
As a Argentinian I have che, he's the worst person to come for Argentina.
As a Argentinian I have che, he's the worst person to come for Argentina.
I like these t-shirts:
If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
Also, please see The Backside of American History
You'll love this 187 page .pdf (1.99 MB)
I was amazed when I got to the end that he was so young, it was extremely well written.
The writer seems to be a young person with quite a future.
They remember a silk screen graphic! Even Hitler could be made to look cool with the art student!
90% of the Nations of the world could solve 90% of their "problems" if that's really what they want to do, and if their "goverments" would allow it. Most would rather mope around and bitch about the US.
Okay kiddies... quick question... which country has the best economy in Latin America... which country has made the most progress in twenty years. Which strongman has actually turned his reformed country into a Democracy?
It kills me to see how Pinochet is attacked years after rescuing Chile from a Marxist hell under Allende, and at the same time Castro is fêted like a hero around the world.
Pinochet is a hero.
Castro is a DICTATOR who needs to stop a bullet.
Che no longer exists, either as an actual guy or a revolutionary icon. What exists is an image from the 60s that is somewhat artfully rendered on t-shirts.
p.s.
Like the "smiley face" the Che image isn't copyrighted.
How does that saying go? Something about a lie going all the way around the world before the truth puts on its shoes? Something like that.
If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
Also, please see The Backside of American History
You'll love this 187 page .pdf (1.99 MB)
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