Natalie, who is a regular reader and commenter here, has a book review that’s well worth reading:
Humberto Fontova has written a must read book: Exposing the Real Che Guevara: And the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him. Fontova himself was born in Cuba. Luckily, his family was able to leave Cuba and escape Communism, though his father was detained on the day they were scheduled to leave. Fontova, his mother, and siblings had to leave his father behind to get out. Fontova’s father later was able to get to Miami and reunite with his family. Though everything worked out for the Fontova family, things didn’t work out for thousands of other families, due to a man named Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
– – – – – – – – –
Che Guevara is revered as a hero nowadays. All of us have seen those people sporting the Che shirts and other ridiculous Che paraphernalia. ( Jonah Goldberg reports in his book Liberal Fascism having seen a Che onesie for a baby — luckily he, unlike most people, knows the truth about Che and likens it to a “Himmler sippy cup” — see pg 194.) But this man, Che Guevara, is not some rebel who fought for equality and rights for the poor. He is not someone that anyone in their right mind should idolize. Che Guevara was a murderer, simple as that. He had countless thousands of Cubans executed. And yet, in a cruel twist of fate, somehow this criminal is remembered in such a good light…
Read the rest at Natalie’s place.
Hat tip: Fjordman.
This comment has been removed by the author.
I thought your review captured the essence of the story. I haven’t read that book yet myself, but it looks good. I know enough about Che from before. The fact that such a mass murderer, who delighted in killing and said so himself, is revered as an idol is sickening. If you intend on becoming a mass murderer, be sure to claim that you are a Socialist first, and suddenly you are a great hero. Leftists have a license to kill, a bit like James Bond. I think they have a license to lie, too.
Marxists always keep talking about how bad “organized religion” is, by which they usually mean Christianity. The highest modern estimate for the number of people killed by the Inquisition is thirty thousand. The lowest is three thousand. This still means that thousands of people were killed by the Inquisition, and that is a dark chapter in Christian history. But remember that this number is spread across many centuries. Mr. Guevara alone killed people on a vastly greater frequency than the Inquisition, yet he is a hero.
I despise Guevara as a piece of dung. The only good thing I can say about him is that he was so incompetent that he never accomplished much as a revolutionary.
Some years ago, W.E.B. Griffin, in his “Brotherhood of War” series, dealt with the adventures of the communist poster boy in Africa. Essentially, in the book, the Americans set him up and thwarted all his plans, turning the whole African affair into a Keystone Kops episode.
Whenever I see some ignoramus wearing his image on their shirt, I want to ask why they idolize him- is it because of the hundreds of people he executed, or his crimes against basic human rights?
Ah Che!
Thanks for the memory.
This memory.
“Whenever I see some ignoramus wearing his image on their shirt…”
The famous Latin rock guitarist, Carlos Santana, wore Che’s mug on his t-shirt to the Grammies not too long ago. This remarkably stupid attitude is closely related to why the West can’t rationally deal with the menace of Islam. I have explored what I call the “Che-Guevarization” of the “oppressed” Muslims in two essays on my blog,
Islamoleftism
and
Muslims: Poster Children of Third World Peoples
Actually Erich, Fontova has written about “Dude” (apparently that’s the meaning of his nickname- an Argentinian slang expression) in the past. One of the groups that was shipped off to camps for reeducation under this animal was teenagers who did bourgeois things like listen to rock music.
Another point, BTW. Natalie mentions his lack of competence in military matters. Fontova also mentions a veteran of the Bay of Pigs, who was visiting his grandchildren in Florida. His grandson came home from school with Che’s work on guerilla warfare, and explained that they were reading it in class.
The brave gentleman almost fell out of his chair laughing. Somebody actually was studying Che’s military theories? (I also read the book, when I was in the military. Completely dull, long-winded and devoid of any worthwhile matter. But this was before the whole internet thing, when I didn’t realize what a loser Guevara was.)
Everytime I see someone wearing Che paraphenalia, I deduct ten I.Q. points. That’s if it’s a university kid being misled by his marxist profs. If it’s an adult who really should know better, deduct 20 I.Q. points.
That’s why the following wouldn’t work since the wearer is history illiterate, but it is tempting to go up to him/her and ask whether their Himmler T-shirt is in the wash.
Little educational bits in everyday life is a favorite pastime of mine. Like yesterday, I found a stray black shirt with Che on the ferry, and handed it to the staff with the comment: “I’ve found something from the darkest side of politics. Please take it away from me!”
Or pointing out to my boy (loudly), when we see an image of Che: “Look, there’s a real criminal.”
So far, none of these supposedly ‘social’ socialists have assaulted me 🙂
September 22, 2007
TEHRAN (AFP) — Two children of Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara are visiting Iran and are due to meet with top officials, the student ISNA news agency reported on Saturday.
Aleida, 47, and her brother, Camilo, 45, are to meet with Culture Minister Mohammad Hossein Safar Harandi, as well as with a deputy minister of foreign affairs and several lawmakers, the agency said.
The two children of the Argentine-born hero of the Cuban revolution started their trip by visiting the shrine of Iran’s late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini …
erich,
I tried finding it, but couldn’t.
During the visit of the CheSpawn in Iran, they were holding a press conference with a group of devout religious figures, in a panel type discussion.
One of the clerics asked Aleida a question, sort of praising Che, about his faith.
She grimaced, and replied that Che was a communist, he didn’t believe in God.
The audience gasped, and the Spawn were quickly escorted out of the building, before they got stoned.
There is a richer topic here…and that is, why do so many Obama backers sport pictures of Obama side by side with images of Che Guevara?
P.S. Gates, do we know each other from jihadchat?
Also, stop by my blog at Loud and True