Friday, May 30, 2008

A quote you should find really disturbing

"To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary…These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate. We must create the pedagogy of The Wall!" -- Che Guevara

I never get the whole "Che" thing. The guy was a murderous bastard yet stupid college kids love wearing his tee shirts. And now the laudatory movies about him.

What did Orwell say? "He who controls the past . . ."

10 comments:

Rodak said...

The appeal of Che Guevara is that he led the weak against the strong. He focused his hatred on an evil system and his ruthless killing was directed against a class equally bad guys. His appeal is that of David against Goliath. King David was also a ruthless killer. He killed a man just to steal his wife, for instance. In the end, Che Guevara was assassinated by other ruthless killers. That's the name of the game. If you speak truth to power--whether with a gun, like Che, or with a parable, like Jesus--you will probably get your ass killed. Either way, you are risking all for your fellow man.

Anonymous said...

Or...

(*SMILE*)

Another way to look at it is that Che Guevara was a murderous psychopath and the average moron who would wear his face on a teeshirt is... an average moron.

(*SMILE*)

Rob. Perhaps you should read "The Che Guevara Myth and the Future of Liberty" by Alvaro Vargas Llosa. Or... you could always pre-order "Exposing the Real Che Guevara: And the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him," by Humberto Fontova - out in August.

(*SHRUG*)

Back to you, Anthony... you answered your own question when you mentioned "stupid college kids" in your initial post. (*SMILE*)

Ahh... stupid college kids and useful idiots - ain't the Left a grand coalition indeed?!

BILL

Rodak said...

Yes. Thank you, Bill, for your predicatble, knee-jerk analysis of my comments.
A little googling will disclose to anybody who wants to think for himself that Sr. Llosa is a celebrated journalistic flack for "free market capitalism," which in Latin America has always translated itself into oligarchic, dictatorial plutocracy, much to the advantage of the Norte Americano investor class.
Mr. Fontova is nothing less than a right-wing, Floridian Cuban--just the type one would turn to for an objective assessment of the principal actors in the Cuban revolution.
Bleating merinos of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your fleece!

Kirk Johnson said...

Not defending Che or his cult, but I would suggest that many young people wearing these shirts haven't a clue about Che's hardline Marxism. More to the point, that iconic image has almost taken on a postmodern life of its own; it's almost something people project vague, undefined ideals onto.

Rodak said...

Simply put, Che is admired by idealistic youth (and others) because he gave his life in the heroic pursuit of something larger than himself. Such is the case with all heroes.

Anonymous said...

re: Rodak May 31, 2008 1:18 PM

Knee-jerk vs. knee-jerk? (Or perhaps with self depreciation Jerk vs. Jerk?) (*GRIN*)

Rob. What is it about LEARNING that offends your sensibilities so?

In any case, you wanna ideolize Che Guevara or even simply look upon him as a "good guy," fine. It's your right. (*SHRUG*)

BILL

Rodak said...

Bill--
One of your main, uh, dare I say "faults," is your inability to distinguish between swallowing proganda whole--because you've been preprogrammed to believe it--and "learning." Learning involves the stress of processing novel and unfamiliar information. Sucking up establishment boilerplate, hook-line-and-sinker, is (as Balki Bartokomous might say) a piece of pie.

Anonymous said...

re: Rodak, June 1, 2008 3:18 PM

(*SNORT*) (*CHUCKLE*)

Translation:

"Don't expect me to read any of your damned fancy BOOKS, Bill... I don't need no stink'n RESEARCH or FACTS to tell me what I need to know about Che Guevara or anyone or anything else!"

(*LAUGHING OUT LOUD*)

BILL

Rodak said...

Nope. Translation:

BILL: More gruel, please, sir.

Rodak said...

I.E. -- Research is all well and good. But don't go to a partisan for an objective picture of his opposition. Cite me some books by scholars and I might read them. Both of those book you cite were written by partisan hacks.