The American Spectator

Sean Higgins| 1.6.09 @ 11:24AM

The reason why so many on the Left -- especially the college-age crowd -- idolize Che can be seen in that iconic photo by Alberto Korda: he had movie star-level charisma. You really don't need to get any deeper than that.

In that picture he is handsome, brooding, soulful, exotic, youthful yet worldly, thoughtful yet earthy and, above all, dangerous. In short a real stud.

The fact that he was involved in real-life revolutions only makes him seem more exciting. The fact that he killed people in the name of his causes makes him even more of a bad boy.

The love exhibited for Che is not in any way an intellectual thing. It is libidinal. Anything else is just a rationalization.

tony| 1.6.09 @ 12:22PM

Sean:

I think it runs much deeper than that. Note that most people you see wearing those Che shirts are college-age kids. These are kids who have fallen under the spell of their professors, who are overwhelmingly pre-disposed to favor Marxist revolutionaries like Che.

I do think you make a point with respect to his picture, which has become iconic. But the picture only serves to enhance what has already been taught, that Che was a brave man fighting the good fight against his oppressors. In a sense, it's easy to understand why a 20 year old would fall under the spell of the legend of Che. His true history, that of a murderous thug who, when captured, whimpered like a baby and offered up his comrades in exchange for leniency, is completely ignored.

What's not easily understood or explained is the fascination with many on the left with murderous tyrants like Stalin, Castro, etc. I suspect some sort of mental disorder, but since I'm not a trained psychologist, I can only speculate. But I do believe that many on the left are so hate-filled, they are perfectly willing to overlook any behavior perpetrated by a fellow traveler if that behavior is focused on a political enemy or furthers the cause of the left.

Andrew| 1.6.09 @ 12:39PM

Really? You guys run into a lot of people on the left who like Stalin and Lenin? When did this run-in with Stalin-loving liberals supposedly happen? 1949? Or, maybe, are you guys just making stuff up?

J. Peter Freire| 1.6.09 @ 1:19PM

Andrew -- Actually, let's go back to FDR and read a few copies of the New Republic from that era. Then, let's look at such luminaries as Paul Robeson, or Alger Hiss. (Or, by extension, their fans.) Granted, I think Lenin gets more kudos these days than Stalin, but that's because Lenin used to be the black sheep, having sold out the Marxist dream once he faced the consequences of his experiment.

tony| 1.6.09 @ 1:59PM

Andrew:

I believe the word I used was fascination and I stand by it. Although I'm 43, I attended undergrad and law school in my thirties, so my experiences are reasonably fresh. I can tell you that on the typical college campus, there is a fairly widespread fascination, if not outright reverence, for communism and communist leaders.

Academia, along with the worldwide green movement, is the home for all wayward communists. This is easily understood, as academia is the one area where one's theories and beliefs are not submitted to the test of practical application.

Young men and women who do not have the benefit of experience and do not yet have fully formed minds are vulnerable to the teachings of the middle and old-aged adolescents that have gotten tenure in major universities. They poison the minds of these young people with stories of collectivist glories, while dismissing well known and documented communist atrocities as inventions of anti-intellectuals and McCarthy-ites.

In time, these young men and women graduate and go out into the world with a sub-standard education, but with a reverential attitude towards supposedly heroic figures such as Che. These are the radicalized folks you see at anti-war rallies waving the flag of Maoist China and the hammer and sickle. Or maybe they write books like "Motorcycle Diaries." Perhaps they go to Hollywood, travel to Cuba, get the royal treatment from Fidel and come back to proclaim the glory of socialism.

So, yes Andrew, I and many others encounter these types of people on a daily basis. They wear Che shirts, they dominate academia, they attend anti-war rallies, they write well known books and they infest Hollywood. Hell, they even have more than a passing familiarity with our president-elect.

Agnes D| 1.6.09 @ 2:49PM

Che was very much in vogue when I was in college (as was Fidel Castro). We wore his T shirts and hung posters of him on our dorm room walls. How wrong we were.

tony| 1.6.09 @ 5:48PM

Agnes D:

Glad to see you've overcome your education.

Quartermaster| 1.6.09 @ 6:58PM

Che tried to cut a deal to save his life. The main died a coward. But, he sure was tough when he had people taken to the wall.

sidnee| 12.11.09 @ 1:00PM

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