View Full Version : Good Morning...Inspiration for millions of t-shirts begins long dirt nap
Okla-homey
10/9/2006, 08:50 AM
October 9, 1967: Professional revolutionary "Che" Guevara is executed in Bolivia
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/1356/cheguevararebellious14jun030yz.gif
Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, better known to the world as "Che" Guevara, is executed by Bolivian armed forces on this day in 1967. Born in Argentina and raised in a wealthy family, he studied medicine and became a physician but later got bored. He then became involved in the Guatemalan revolution of the 1950s. It was during this time that he discovered Marxism and became a fervent convert to the philosophy.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/4762/chepp4gr0kq.jpg
In the beginning he was a jolly, happy Marxist
Following the overthrow of the Guatemalan government by a U.S.-sponsored coup in 1954, Guevara traveled to Mexico where he joined up with Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.
In 1956, Castro, Guevara, and a small band of supporters landed in Cuba intent on overthrowing its government. When the initial attack did not succeed, Che joined Castro and the survivors in the wilds of Cuba, carrying on a guerilla war. In 1959, the Cuban government fell and Castro seized power. Guevara was put in charge of finance and economic planning for the revolutionary government. In 1960 he published Guerilla Warfare, in which he argued that armed struggle was necessary to free the masses from capitalistic exploitation.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/3074/chepp6gr1vb.jpg
"Hey, this revolution stuff is hard. After you take over, you actually have to run the country and make sure everyone has a enough to eat and stuff"
Eventually, Castro became fearful of Guevara's growing popularity among Cuban Marxists and believed he was a threat to Castro's supreme dictatorial power.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/157/chefidelkiggerdybt4fe.jpg
Numero Uno telling Numero Dos a thing or two
No one outside of Cuba knows exactly how it went down, but Guevara was allowed to leave Cuba and he turned up in Bolivia where he began to agitate for revolution. Bolivian government authorities managed to catch him and on this day in 1967 shot him in the head. LBJ was reportedly delighted at the news BTW -- our CIA probably had a little to do with the Bolivian's ability to pretty quickly finger Guevara shortly after his arrival in their country.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/3378/chepp8gr8sv.jpg
Epilogue:
I'm quite sure most young people wearing t-shirts with Guevara's image have no idea WTF he was. There is a bit of delicious irony in the fact capitalistic merchants the world over have made a ton putting the most popular symbol of "rebellious youth personified" on things -- most often t-shirts, yet neither Che's estate nor his causes ever got a peso out of the millions made since he was shot between the eyes in Bolivia on this day.
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8703/insane7zocy5.jpg
crawfish
10/9/2006, 09:13 AM
As we all know...it's perfectly fine to be a sadistic, psychotic murderer as long as you give lip service to the poor and oppressed.
Happy Birthday Che!
Outstanding!
Those shirts have usually miffed me slightly, but with your capitalist twist, I will have a private chuckle in the future.
Octavian
10/9/2006, 09:36 AM
The t-shirt comments are absolutely spot-on...about a month ago I was in a Barnes&Noble and saw a magazine cover mocking the phenomena you're talkin about...
It had the iconic red and black image of Che w/ a Nike swoosh on his beret where the star should be...I laughed.
Che really gets more credit than he deserves for the success of the Cuban Revolution. The Batista government was so unpopular by the late '50s, any band of rebels in oppostion could've strolled into Havanna they way Castro's forces did...
Che was also incredibly wrong about foco theory, his belief that revolution could be exported to other impoverished places (which made him more of a Maoist than a Marxist) around the globe that he knew little about..he failed to do so both in Africa and South America.
While he was an important symbolic figure for the Castro's government once in power, his legacy is a perfect testament to how myth and lore can be twisted into established history.
The fact that 21st marketers sit around and devise ways to turn another buck off his image makes his failure complete.
Now there is a video game called "Just Cause" with a main character looking like the overly romanticized Che.
I never "got" Che. Maybe he just looks cool or something.
StoopTroup
10/9/2006, 09:40 AM
I do not like those T-Shirts.
It makes me want to slap the bejesus out of the folks who wear them.
Octavian
10/9/2006, 09:42 AM
I never "got" Che. Maybe he just looks cool or something.
he was a charismatic speaker...that's about it.
http://hammeroftruth.com/images/articles/142-che_mouseketeer.jpg
Kudos AFS! I'll have to save that image.
How come no one ever has a t-shirt with Trotsky on it? He seems like a more substantive figure to me if you're into romanticizing communism.
lexsooner
10/9/2006, 11:12 AM
How come no one ever has a t-shirt with Trotsky on it? He seems like a more substantive figure to me if you're into romanticizing communism.
Because Trotsky didn't have Che's romantic and charismatic appeal. Although misguided, Che' was really an amazing man. He gave up an affluent lifestyle in Argentina to become a revolutionary and gave his life fighting in the jungles for his cause. He actually parted ways with Castro's Cuba because he felt Castro had become a pawn of the Soviet Union. He was ruthless and idealistic and lacked Castro's pragmatism - Che' actually urged the Russians to launch a nuclear strike against the U.S. during the Cuban missle crisis, something Fidel and Raul Castro and Kruschev did not want.
While we may not agree with his cause or his way out thinking, it is hard to deny the romantic appeal of his life and personality. That's why he is on so many t-shirts.
Okla-homey
10/9/2006, 11:22 AM
While we may not agree with his cause or his way out thinking, it is hard to deny the romantic appeal of his life and personality. That's why he is on so many t-shirts.
Methinks you give the young t-shirt wearers waaaaaaaay to much credit. I submit most kids wear them either because a) they are a fashion statement or b) they are perceived as a stick-it-to-the-man statement. Nothing more.
TUSooner
10/9/2006, 11:53 AM
Yep, it baffles me how this guy can be anybody's hero - he abandoned a profession of healing so he could promote death, war, and at best, replacing old tyrants and injustices with newer ones. My guess is that the airheaded Che worshippers just happen to think the beret and scraggly beard are cute. Plus they might really buy into the foolish notion that he "stood for something" worthwhile. I'm temp[ted to bitchslap anybody I see wearing a Che t-shirt - or at least to spill something on it in a sneaky way. ;)
Lex, this is Columbus day not Che Guevara day. So put your Che T-shirt back in the closet and thank ole Chris for your sleep in this morning on Uncle Sam's dime :)
VeeJay
10/9/2006, 12:27 PM
Happy Execution Day!
http://www.thoseshirts.com/images/model-noche-LE375.jpg
IronSooner
10/9/2006, 03:52 PM
Did anybody ever see the Motorcycle Diaries? Interesting look at his life before he became Che. I believe it was based on his actual diary from his roadtrip around the continent as a college kid. Sad really to think a guy that started out with so much going for him could end up the way he did. Then again, that's life.
Like Jimmy Swaggart tells Jerry Lee in Great Balls of Fire, "Choices, Jerry Lee, choices"
lexsooner
10/9/2006, 05:56 PM
Lex, this is Columbus day not Che Guevara day. So put your Che T-shirt back in the closet and thank ole Chris for your sleep in this morning on Uncle Sam's dime :)
LOL! Yup, OhU1, life is rough. I got to sleep till ten and surf the web for an hour or two and go for a run, shower up and meet some friends for lunch on a patio.
OhU1, have you noticed how silent the posters on the SO board have been about the Foley scandal and the Iraq War, two disasters in progress? I don't see a single active thread about either debacle. What gives? You still live in Okiehoma.
Taxman71
10/10/2006, 06:24 AM
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/3074/chepp6gr1vb.jpg
I doubt Michael Jackson gave his family any royalties for stealing his Thriller jacket either.
TUSooner
10/10/2006, 08:08 AM
Why does Che remind me of Planet of the Apes?
critical_phil
10/10/2006, 08:21 AM
Although misguided, Che' was really an amazing man. He gave up an affluent lifestyle in Argentina to become a revolutionary and gave his life fighting in the jungles for his cause.
can we think of someone else more recently who gave up an affluent lifestyle to propagate a cause?
doesn't mean you should get your own t-shirt.
it just means that one can be both sincere and sincerely wrong.
TUSooner
10/10/2006, 09:46 AM
...Although misguided, Che' was really an amazing man. He gave up an affluent lifestyle in Argentina to become a revolutionary and gave his life fighting in the jungles for his cause....
Not flaming at you, lex, because that is indeed one explanation.
But it's dog sh!t.
Che could have sacrificed his "affluent lifestyle" and still practiced the profession for which he was trained. Why was healing the sick not a good enough "cause"? He could have devoted his life to giving medical care to the oppressed. He chose instead to promote death, war, and - at best - the replacement of old tyrants and injustices with newer ones. He deserved to be betrayed and to die like a dog with a bullet in his head.
The glorification of f**heads just because they are "devoted to a cause" totally ticks me off. Hitler's SS was "devoted to a cause." Sheesh.
Okla-homey
10/10/2006, 10:22 AM
Not flaming at you, lex, because that is indeed one explanation.
But it's dog sh!t.
Che could have sacrificed his "affluent lifestyle" and still practiced the profession for which he was trained. Why was healing the sick not a good enough "cause"? He could have devoted his life to giving medical care to the oppressed. He chose instead to promote death, war, and - at best - the replacement of old tyrants and injustices with newer ones. He deserved to be betrayed and to die like a dog with a bullet in his head.
The glorification of f**heads just because they are "devoted to a cause" totally ticks me off. Hitler's SS was "devoted to a cause." Sheesh.
For the record, I absotively agree with all the above. I would also like to remind that the islamo-whackjobs that incinerated hundreds of innocents on 9-11 were "devoted to a cause."
Okla-homey
10/10/2006, 10:24 AM
can we think of someone else more recently who gave up an affluent lifestyle to propagate a cause?
doesn't mean you should get your own t-shirt.
it just means that one can be both sincere and sincerely wrong.
Hmmmmmmmm? Osama?
C&CDean
10/10/2006, 10:49 AM
Ya think?
Che is a good commie now.
TUSooner
10/10/2006, 01:55 PM
For the record, I absotively agree with all the above. I would also like to remind that the islamo-whackjobs that incinerated hundreds of innocents on 9-11 were "devoted to a cause."
Dang. My mind is still in the wrong century to miss that obvious example - and 'specially rich boy Osama. <shakes head>
:D
Scott D
10/10/2006, 02:53 PM
I don't know that I'd consider Che's goals to necessarily be communist....it just happened to be the larger ideology that closely mimic'd his.
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