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The Drink Mixer of the Darkside ([info]deoridhe) wrote in [info]fandom_wank,
@ 2005-05-10 12:50:00


Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Current mood:Amazed

From Cuba to Godwin on 42 Altariaan Dollars a Day
On the IMDB boards, Beat_Nik posts s/h/it's opinion of people wearing Che Guevara t-shirts.

I am deeply pained and troubled when I see people proudly wearing Che t-shirts. I react to it the same way I would if I were to see someone wearing a Hitler t-shirt. The differences are few for me, as I think they should be for anyone living freely in a democracy. I despise totalitarianism in all its forms and as well-made and well-acted as this film was, I am also capable of seeing how entirely one-sided and propagandistic it was. I find it hard to believe that a couple years before Motorcycle Diaries was praised at Sundance, Before Night Falls was as well. We've seen what he did for people with leprecy in Peru, but I wonder what Che would have done to Reinaldo Arenas had he been given the opportunity. So long as writers like Arenas have suffered and countinue to suffer, so long as Cuba struggles under the weight of Che's legacy, I dont see how anyone enjoying freedom in a democracy can wear Che shirts in good faith.

Highlights include:

MarkMcAlonan: "But you don't think his gesture of giving this special money away to communists was meaningful?"

Badi-3: "Your arguments remind me to the 'Alexander' forum, where many people complained the movie was gay propaganda."

Kruger97: "If you had it your way, the entire film would be about how much of an evil, mass murdering rapist serial killer he (supposedly, according to a few exiles from Cuba) was. If we had that, we would have a perfect example of propaganda. It is as simple as that. Also, to hear some people compare Che Guevara to Hitler and Pol Pot is laughable. You anti communists really need to read more books written by people other than Tom Clancy."

Rvinall-1: "It was only stupid and IDIOTIC U.S. postwar policy that created a "red scare" and created the Cold War. The Americans started the Cold War. Rather than accept a legitimate government and normalize relations, we had the ridiculous "containment" theory.

This isn't the 1940s: communists aren't all the butchers you think."

Anthos: "So he has socialist leanings!!! OH MY GOD!!! Terrible! Unforgiving! Sinful! Are people allowed to have socialist leanings??? Where has this world come to??? Please God, punish all socialists/communists of this world and just leave on earth people with high morales that will take care of the well being OF ALL PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD, and not just their interests...BURN THEM I SAY!!!"

It quickly descends into that hallowed realm of tl;dr, but the fapping could power a small city for a week!



(Post a new comment)


orangutan
2005-05-10 08:17 pm UTC (link)
I've always wondered what Che would think of the fact that entrepid capitalists get so much money from sticking his portrait on, you know, t-shirts and doggie vests and thongs.

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[info]luckdragonfujur
2005-05-10 08:46 pm UTC (link)
And socks.

And I just had to buy one pair

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orangutan
2005-05-10 08:57 pm UTC (link)
. . . Socks? Seriously?

That's strangely full of awesome.

What I wanna know is, do they make Che wallets?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]ruuger
2005-05-10 09:30 pm UTC (link)
Yes they do. And Che money clips. I almost died of laughing when I saw them in a shop.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]ruuger
2005-05-10 09:36 pm UTC (link)
Alas, the store appears to have stopped selling Che wallets and money clips :(

But they still have Che drink bottles (bottom row on the left).

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


orangutan
2005-05-10 11:34 pm UTC (link)
A minute on Google proves that other people are still making wallets, filling my maw with the rich creamy goodness of irony.

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[info]pepperlandgirl4
2005-05-10 09:11 pm UTC (link)
While I was in Florence, I bought a bottle of wine labelled with Che's portrait.

I'm pleased with my purchase. It's a kick-ass bottle. Though it makes me wonder why I saw his portrait all over Florence. Does anybody know why they'd care about him there? Or is it just for the benefit of the american tourists?

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[info]liebestod
2005-05-11 05:06 am UTC (link)
I remember being in Florence on May Day--huge-ass Communist parade ensued. Both labor unionism and Communism are very much alive in Europe.

On a (related?) note, when I was in Iceland a few years ago, everyone was hugely into Cuba. Lots of blond kids with punk hair wearing khaki jackets and berets. Very weird.

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[info]mistressrenet
2005-05-10 09:45 pm UTC (link)
The most famous image isn't being put on many things now....

....because of a copyright dispute. No, really.

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orangutan
2005-05-10 10:16 pm UTC (link)
That fills me with perverse joy.

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[info]delcj
2005-05-11 08:21 am UTC (link)
really? maybe that's why Jake Gyllenhaal's wearing this t-shirt:

GOODLOOKING REVOLUTIONARIES WANTED

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[info]deerlike
2005-05-11 08:47 am UTC (link)
Okay, pardon me while I melt in a highly fangirlish fashion.

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[info]mistressrenet
2005-05-11 10:23 pm UTC (link)
...I wonder if he'd mind being my second husband.

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[info]delcj
2005-05-12 03:40 am UTC (link)
maybe if you ask nicely and offer him that goodlooking Che substitute he wants. ^_~

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]deerlike
2005-05-11 06:50 am UTC (link)
I think [info]ernestoguevara should definitely weigh in with his opinon. :)

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]shun_mcdaddy
2005-05-11 07:20 pm UTC (link)
Or in Heat Guy J, a Che poster was shown in one of the main characters' apartment.<-----Geek

(Reply to this)(Parent)


kroki_refur
2005-05-10 08:28 pm UTC (link)
Huh. And I always thought the problem with people wearing Che t-shirts was that he despised the consumer capitalism that they represent. I sure got told.

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[info]phosfate
2005-05-10 08:54 pm UTC (link)
Those who know jack shit about history are condemned to wank about it in the internet.

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[info]narcissam
2005-05-10 09:04 pm UTC (link)
Do these people know you can dislike/condemn/vilify someone without comparing them to Hitler?

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[info]fatesarchitect
2005-05-10 10:22 pm UTC (link)
SHHH! You're going to let the secret out.

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[info]pope_shane
2005-05-11 10:39 am UTC (link)
Rule one of teh internets - If you dont know shit; invoke Hitler.

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dracothelizard
2005-05-11 07:10 pm UTC (link)
Exactly, which is why I'm getting sick of people who compare Bush to Hitler.

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[info]dana
2005-05-12 04:31 am UTC (link)
I know, Hitler was far smarter.

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[info]gweniveeve
2005-05-10 11:28 pm UTC (link)
I didn't know jack shit about Che until recently (because I'd become curious over the T-shirts) and judging from who wears them, it's just because he looks cool on a T-shirt. Like Jimi Hendrix.

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[info]kookaburra
2005-05-11 03:00 am UTC (link)
Heee. I'm going to go put on my Che in Mickey ears shirt now. I've always thought it was awesome that his image is now one of the biggest marketing things evar.

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[info]liebestod
2005-05-11 05:13 am UTC (link)
The right side o' the blogosphere has a bee up its ass about the Che shirts, to the extent of trying to popularize anti-Che shirts.

Wikipedia has a good, even-handed entry on Che that notes the popularity of the Alberto Corda photo in the '60s. I think its current revival is a combination of '60s retro chic, '80s post-Wall artifact collecting, and '00s "I don't know what the fuck it is, I just know it annoys people."

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[info]tiasian
2005-05-11 10:22 am UTC (link)
Man. Those shirts are kind of lame. :/

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[info]kadath
2005-05-11 04:08 pm UTC (link)
"Commies aren't cool?" I think they're going for ironic-chic, but missed and landed in embarrassing.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]isobelsomething
2005-05-11 05:20 am UTC (link)
I'm not a big Communism fan, but what's the big deal? I don't think you can compare Che at all to any of the fascist dictators. I mean, for one, his moustache is way cooler.

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[info]deerlike
2005-05-11 06:57 am UTC (link)
Personally, I'm waiting for the day that Trotsky becomes iconic.

I mean...isn't the best part of waking up having a face like this on your cup?!

P/S: I so love you for bringing political-wank to the comm -- really, words cannot express. <3

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[info]adora_spintriae
2005-05-11 09:23 am UTC (link)
I'm more of a Lenin kind of chick, but my design was dumped by The Man, because apparently people don't like drinking out of red mugs.

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[info]deerlike
2005-05-11 09:30 am UTC (link)
Well, hey, that's all right, that's cool with me, because Lenin + Trotsky = OTP(!)

*sing-song*

My jingle got rejected by The Man, too. Apparently teaching Bolshevik history through the medium of gay subtext is unacceptable.

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[info]pope_shane
2005-05-11 10:38 am UTC (link)
Marx/Trotsky all the way, baybee.

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[info]deerlike
2005-05-11 10:41 am UTC (link)
Maybe an OT3, with Engels sandwiched in between? :s I always feel distressed when I separate those two fabulously-bearded gents.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]aerobot
2005-05-11 08:13 am UTC (link)
I really have no idea who Che is, but I am sick of communism = TEH EBIL OMG. The Red Scare is over, STFU.

Yeah, okay, it's a faulty government system. I do admire what Marx was trying to achieve when he devised it. But jeez, people, calm down.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]deerlike
2005-05-11 08:51 am UTC (link)
I'm just kinda sad that no one bothers to remember Friedrich Engels. It's like, "Engels WHO?" :( They were the Dynamic Duo, for serious.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]adora_spintriae
2005-05-11 09:24 am UTC (link)
The Red Scare is over, STFU.

Haha, I want a Tshirt that says that.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]mael
2005-05-11 01:04 pm UTC (link)
I'm sure the victims of the Communist regime agree with you. So do the nice people of Cuba. I heard Mao offered a great pension plan, by the way.

Look, I get it. Politics get everybody riled up, but what I am *really* sick of is communism = TEH MISUNDERSTOOD!!!11!!WOE!

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[info]deerlike
2005-05-11 01:17 pm UTC (link)
I think people are confusing Marxism with Communism. There's something of a difference, after all.

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[info]narcissam
2005-05-12 09:28 pm UTC (link)
Me too. It's been going on for about eight decades now with no sign of stopping. Maybe one day people will realize that, although the Communist countries were/are not parallel to Hitler's particular brand of evil they were/are pretty damn evil in themselves. May be a while. My brother's social studies textbook is still saying that collective farms were a great success and we should all be moving towards them. And my aunt has a picture of Mao on her wall. *wretches*

The Beatles had it right for me. And if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow!

Che Guevera has become a big image, because he's one of the more harmless Communists, having been exiled and killed young and early in the game, and his enemies were nasty people too. Which doesn't make me weak in the knees for him, since I think his cause was poisonous and he was no hero, but mileage may vary.

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[info]aerobot
2005-05-13 05:14 pm UTC (link)
Really? I have NEVER heard of anyone even remotely defending communism. All I ever hear is that communism is the bitch of satan and all communists are going to hell. I was trying to make the point that yeah, communism has always been horrific, but it's not Teh Tool Of Satan.

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[info]dana
2005-05-11 09:10 am UTC (link)
I see another person who doesn't know the difference between the right and left.

Because I'm sure Hitler and Guevara would have gotten on famously...yeah.

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[info]parkagirl
2005-05-11 04:38 pm UTC (link)
Oh My God. They're still wanking about this? I saw that thread nearly a MONTH ago.

Just one of the many joys of IMDB, I suppose. It really is a troll paradise.

(Reply to this)


 
   
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