Great article. When I see his face on kid's T-shirts it makes me want to puke.
--- In [email protected], "shempmcgurk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Che Guevara: 39 Years of Media Hype > by Humberto Fontova > > > DIGG THIS > > Thirty-nine years ago this week, Ernesto "Che" Guevara got a major > dose of his own medicine. Without trial he was declared a murderer, > stood against a wall and shot. Historically speaking, justice has > rarely been better served. If the saying "What goes around comes > around" ever fit, it's here. > > "Executions?" Che Guevara exclaimed while addressing the hallowed > halls of the U.N. General Assembly on December 9, 1964. "Certainly > we execute!" he declared, to the claps and cheers of that august > body. "And we will CONTINUE executing as long as it is necessary! > This is a war to the DEATH against the revolution's enemies!" > > According to the Black Book of Communism, those firing-squad > executions had reached around 10,000 by that time. Sloboban > Milosevic, by the way, went on trial for allegedly ordering 8,000 > executions. The charge against him by the same U.N. that deliriously > applauded Che Guevara's proud proclamation was "genocide." > > "I don't need proof to execute a man," snapped Che to a judicial > underling in 1959. "I only need proof that it's necessary to execute > him!" > > The "revolution's enemies" bound, gagged and murdered by Che and his > henchmen were among the most enterprising and valiant fighters of > the 20th century ranking alongside the Hungarian Freedom Fighters. > They fought just as valiantly, as desperately and, ultimately > just as hopelessly. They fought to the last bullet and usually to > the death. > > The few survivors live today in places like Miami and New Jersey and > qualify as the longest-suffering political prisoners in modern > history. But you'll look for their stories on the History Channel > and PBS and in the New York Times, etc., in vain. They fought the > Left's premier pinup boys, you see. So their heroism doesn't qualify > as politically correct drama. > > On the contrary, Time magazine honors Che Guevara among "The 100 > Most Important People of the Century." Not satisfied with such a > measly accolade they list him in the "Heroes and Icons" section, > alongside Anne Frank, Andrei Sakharov, Rosa Parks and Mother > Theresa. From here the ironies only get richer. > > The most popular version of the Che T-shirt and poster, for > instance, sports the slogan "Fight Oppression" under his famous > face. This is the face of a man who co-founded a regime that jailed > more of its subjects than did Hitler's or Stalin's and declared > that "individualism must disappear!" In 1959, with the help of > Soviet GRU agents, the man celebrated on that T-shirt helped found, > train and indoctrinate Cuba's secret police. "Always interrogate > your prisoners at night," Che ordered his goons. "A man's resistance > is always lower at night." Today the world's largest Che mural > adorns Cuba's Ministry of the Interior, the headquarters for Cuba's > KGB- and STASI-trained secret police. Nothing could be more fitting. > > "Iron" Mike Tyson used to end fights with his arms upraised in > triumph. In 2002 he got a huge Che tattoo on his torso, visited > Cuba, and has been consistently and horribly stomped in fight after > fight ever since, a process perfectly mimicking the combat record of > his tattoo idol. Che was indeed proficient at smiting his enemies, > Mike, thousands of them, but only after they were bound, gagged and > blindfolded and I'm afraid the National Boxing Federation won't > allow this. > > When the crowd of A-list hipsters and Beautiful People at the > Sundance Film Festival (which included everyone from Tipper and Al > Gore to Sharon Stone, Meryl Streep and Paris Hilton) exploded in a > rapturous standing ovation for Robert Redford's The Motorcycle > Diaries, they were cheering a film glorifying a man who jailed or > exiled most of Cuba's best writers, poets and independent filmmakers > while converting Cuba's press and cinema at Czech machine- > gunpoint into propaganda agencies for a Stalinist regime. > > Executive producer of the movie Robert Redford (who always kicks off > the film festival with a long dirge about the importance of artistic > freedom) was forced to screen the film for Che's widow (who heads > Cuba's Che Guevara Studies Center) and Fidel Castro for their > approval before release. We can only imagine the shrieks of outrage > from the Sundance crowd about "censorship!" and "selling out!" had, > say, Robert Ackerman required (and acquiesced in) Nancy Reagan's > approval to release HBO's The Reagans that same year. > > Che groupies are many and varied. Christopher Hitchens, for > instance, marvels at Che's "untamable defiance" and assures us in > the same New York Times article that "Che was no hypocrite." > > The noted historian Benicio Del Toro, who will star as his hero in a > Hollywood biopic due next year, says that "Che was just one of those > guys who walked the walk and talked the talk. There's just something > cool about people like that. The more I get to know Che, the more I > respect him." > > More than his cruelty, megalomania or even his epic stupidity, what > most distinguished Ernesto "Che" Guevara from his peers was his > sniveling cowardice. His groupies can run off in a huff, slam their > bedroom door and dive headfirst into their beds sobbing and kicking > and punching the pillows all they want, but Che surrendered to the > Bolivian Rangers voluntarily, from a safe distance, and was captured > physically sound and with a fully loaded pistol. > > One day before his death in Bolivia, Che Guevara for the first time > in his life finally faced something properly describable as combat. > So he ordered his guerrilla charges to give no quarter, to fight to > the last breath and to the last bullet. > > A few hours later, his "untamable defiance," lack of hypocrisy > and "walking of the walk" all manifested themselves. With his men > doing just what he ordered (fighting and dying to the last bullet), > a slightly wounded Che snuck away from the firefight and surrendered > with a full clip in his pistol, while whimpering to his > captors: "Don't Shoot! I'm Che! I'm worth more to you alive than > dead!" > > His Bolivian captors begged to differ. > > > > October 6, 2006 > To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
