Che Guevara...

[Storebought]

..was a baby-killing murderer, and the people who defend him are little better:

From Jay Nordlinger's "Impromptus"

"Speaking of people who connected me to the world: After publication of my piece "Che Chic," I received a letter from Armando Valladares. Valladares is often called "the Cuban Solzhenitsyn," and like Solzhenitsyn, he has been vilified as a fascist, a liar, a warmonger. Valladares's book is Against All Hope, memorializing the Cuban gulag (founded by Che Guevara, before he left the island for South America). My encounter with this book, long ago, was a milestone in what you might call a political development; the same is true for many, many other people as well.

"Anyway, Valladares writes,

Communist icons inevitably are found out. We need to look no further than the deaths of some 5,000 Polish officers, murdered by Communist firing squads in the Katyn Forest. The Kremlin laid the blame for this act on the Nazis, and succeeded in convincing nearly the entire world.

When those of us who knew better voiced the truth, no one listened. We, and the 5,000 murdered, would have to wait until the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the Kremlin finally admitted blame for the atrocity.

It is the same with Che Guevara. I knew Che Guevara. He was an assassin, unscrupulous to the core. Many died at his hands, and many more died on his orders. His legend is pure fiction, masterfully crafted by his fellow Communists and the nostalgic Left. Add to their numbers every misguided liberal, a gullible multitude resembling the deluded masses who believed the cowardly lies of the Communists about the Katyn massacre

[I interject to say that, when I was in college and graduate school, to finger the Soviets for Katyn was to start a furor.]

Che adulators and fans miss the logical conclusion. Had the object of their adoration and his ideology triumphed, their victory would have unleashed the Communist system worldwide, resulting in the bitterest fruits: total loss of personal freedom, execution by firing squad for dissent, concentration camps, an end to religious expression, and to a free press. Stalin's Russia replicated across a global stage.

That is the legacy Che Guevara intended for us — including for those who adulate him.

The cult of defending dictators and their henchmen is a repeating, albeit illogical, phenomenon. Stalin and Hitler, Pinochet, Castro, and Hussein ruthlessly purged millions of their compatriots and enslaved millions more. They heaped misery and horror on their own people, and yet their defenders vie with impunity against the truth. So it is with Che — a tired old tale

http://www.nationalreview.com/impromptus/impromptus200501180838.asp

[Sam Spade]

Che Guevara was a murderous killer.

He was also fortunate enough to be very handsome and get killed young enough so all people remembered was how handsome he was and not how much of a murderous killer he was.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Let's see, he overthrew a brutal dictatorship in Cuba, the result wasn't much better but it's not like fighting against Batista was something awful, he fought against a brutal dictatorship in the Congo and then died fighting a brutal dictatorship in Bolivia. What's wrong?

[Richard]

Let's see, he overthrew a brutal dictatorship in Cuba, the result wasn't much better but it's not like fighting against Batista was something awful, he fought against a brutal dictatorship in the Congo and then died fighting a brutal dictatorship in Bolivia. What's wrong?

The killing people part?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So did the French Resistance.

[Richard]

So did the French Resistance.

I'm sorry?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The French Resistance killed people while trying to remove a brutal dictatorship. That's that Che did.

[Richard]

The French Resistance killed people while trying to remove a brutal dictatorship. That's that Che did.

So because the French killed people that is a blank check for Che to kill people?  I'm not following your logic.

[Tory]

Let's see, he overthrew a brutal dictatorship in Cuba, the result wasn't much better but it's not like fighting against Batista was something awful, he fought against a brutal dictatorship in the Congo and then died fighting a brutal dictatorship in Bolivia. What's wrong?

Each of the governments that replaced those he fought against were even more repressive

[Sam Spade]

Let's see, he overthrew a brutal dictatorship in Cuba, the result wasn't much better but it's not like fighting against Batista was something awful, he fought against a brutal dictatorship in the Congo and then died fighting a brutal dictatorship in Bolivia. What's wrong?

Each of the governments that replaced those he fought for were more repressive

Exactly.

[TheBulldog]

He fought for an incredible ideal that doesent work.  There is merit in that.  But he also killed millions, and his only real value now is to sell t-shirts with his picture on them.  Funny that communism's only real purpuse now is to sell t-shirts with their logos on them.

[AuH2O]

He was mentally ill, cut him some slack.

[PBrunsel]

He was just another Communist.

[Gustaf]

The French Resistance killed people while trying to remove a brutal dictatorship. That's that Che did.

So because the French killed people that is a blank check for Che to kill people?  I'm not following your logic.

Are you being stupid on purpose? Ok, the US killed people in Iraq, Korea, WWII, WWI, Vietnam, etc, etc, etc...do you get it now?

Oh, and Che was a murderous guy.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The French Resistance killed people while trying to remove a brutal dictatorship. That's that Che did.

So because the French killed people that is a blank check for Che to kill people?  I'm not following your logic.

He killed the supporters and defenders of oppressive governments, which is what the French Resistance did.

[Tory]

The French Resistance killed people while trying to remove a brutal dictatorship. That's that Che did.

So because the French killed people that is a blank check for Che to kill people?  I'm not following your logic.

He killed the supporters and defenders of oppressive governments, which is what the French Resistance did.

He killed supporters of oppressive governments to put an even more oppressive government in power.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I'd say Castro is better than Batista, although obviously neither one is ideal.

[Tory]

I'd say Castro is better than Batista, although obviously neither one is ideal.

People didn't flee Batista's Cuba unless they were Communists.

[senatortombstone]

I'd say Castro is better than Batista, although obviously neither one is ideal.

It is like asking someone which limb they would to have amputated.

[stry_cat]

I came across this interesting article on Che Guevara
http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/000455.html

[DanielX]

I'd say Castro is better than Batista, although obviously neither one is ideal.

'neither one is ideal' - understatement, huge.

Batista was bad, he essentially let the Mafia run things. But - the Mafia, while bad, isn't as bad as the communists, in my opinion.

[Gustaf]

The French Resistance killed people while trying to remove a brutal dictatorship. That's that Che did.

So because the French killed people that is a blank check for Che to kill people?  I'm not following your logic.

Are you being stupid on purpose? Ok, the US killed people in Iraq, Korea, WWII, WWI, Vietnam, etc, etc, etc...do you get it now?

Oh, and Che was a murderous guy.

Wow! Really unlike you, Gustaf.

I'm tired lately and I have less patience with people I guess... :S

I can see that I might have been a little over the line there. Sorry Richius.

[TX_1824]

He fought for an incredible ideal that doesent work. There is merit in that. But he also killed millions, and his only real value now is to sell t-shirts with his picture on them. Funny that communism's only real purpuse now is to sell t-shirts with their logos on them.

So Che became an unwilling capitalist in that regard.
"No one has any rights the state shall acknowledge. No one person is above the state. Religion is outlawed because the state is the real religion. There will be no free press, no free elections, no free economy, no free assembly for decentors, no due process, all that disagree with the state are guilty of treason and will be put to death. That being said, buy my t-shirt."

The legacy of Communism