Ending the myth of Che Guevara

By Jordan Harp

Why do people like this guy? It might just be the most idiotic and ignorant fashion today, which is, wearing the face of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. The ex-tyrant and “revolutionary,” as his supporters, whom are either communist or stupid, like to call him, has received the attention and reverence one would expect of a saint, not a murderer who helped bring to power one of the most repressive regimes on Earth. Yet to this day there continues to be a cult surrounding Che Guevara.

The man is revered by many on the left who view him as some sort of revolutionary hero, and as an icon of rebellion. He is viewed as a rebel who fought for the common man, immersed himself in a lifelong struggle against oppression and imperialism. Nelson Mandela has called him “An inspiration for every human being who loves freedom.”

They are able to conveniently ignore the fact that the Castro regime, the repressive regime which he helped bring to power, imprisons thousands of political dissidents and that oppression he was supposed to fight against is the way of life, and the freedom that he is supposed to be an inspiration for does not exist. They also seem to ignore his infamous tenure at La Cabaña, where during a five-month span it is estimated several hundred prisoners were executed, and he served as judge and jury.But nowhere is this cult more evident than in Hollywood, the bastion of ignorant liberalism. Several actors and actresses have stated their affection for the man. They have even gone through the trouble of making movies to pay homage to this thug.

In 2004, ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ was released, and was based on Che’s actual writing about the time. Produced by Robert Redford, it depicts a young Che with his friend traveling around South America and romanticized the beginnings of his turn to Marxism and how he found his life’s calling. It won awards at the Oscars and the Cannes Film Festival.

And now we are getting a whole new round of tributes to the “symbol of rebellion,” as the directory of the new films that will be out soon about him has called him.

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‘The Argentine’ and ‘Guerilla,’ both directed by Stephen Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro, are a new hagiographies of the man.

The two films together were nominated for the Golden Palm at the Cannes, and del Toro won the best actor award, showing that all you have to do in order to win an award at Cannes, or any film festival for that matter, is make a movie about a dead Marxist. Fidel will most likely be dead soon, and no doubt then he will be the subject of the next wave of glowing documentaries, all of which will win awards.

The ideology that Che tried, and failed miserably, to spread was the exact ideology that this country stood against for years. I have to wonder if the Che-philes would prefer to be living under the auspices of the USSR and communism. Many in Hollywood would certainly be out of a job, since there would only be need for state approved material.

I also wonder what many of these leftists, who proclaim themselves to be such staunch defenders of respect and so adamantly opposed to hate would think of the this quote from the “revolutionary”: “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 .”

No, they will go ahead and keep ignoring the uncomfortable facts of the man. They won’t stand up for the thousands of people imprisoned and intimidated inside Cuba for being “counter-revolutionaries,” as the Cuban government likes to call them, read dissidents.

People like Oscar Biscet, founder of the Lawton Foundation, which is dedicated to Cuban freedom, and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, who was sentenced to 25 years in jail for leading opposition against the Cuban government. Or Yoani Sanchez, a prominent blogger, who was warned by Cuban authorities that her actions had “crossed the limits of tolerance” and was told she couldn’t hold a meeting of bloggers.

They will continue to swoon over that proud and brave figure in the Alberto Korda photograph and ignore the suffering him, and his fellow ideologues, have brought to millions across the world.

Jordan is a junior in MCB and thinks most of the whopper virgins got it right.