Che: Like So Totally Hott

Let’s start with a little history lesson, shall we?

Ernesto Guevara is a name that isn’t commonly known. He is better known as the Argentine doctor and Cuban revolutionary, Che.

Che has been pulled into modern culture’s center ring as a mythical idol. There are many debates as to whether what Che supported was right or wrong, but for the sake of this column that doesn’t really matter.

What does matter is that we know what Che actually stood for and believed in. He was skilled in the art of guerrilla warfare. He believed in communism, a word that is often feared in our country.

So this all brings us back a couple weeks ago to when I was walking downtown. I saw a girl wearing big sunglasses, furry boots and hoop earrings. She had a cellphone glued to her ear. But what really caught my attention was the shirt she was wearing.

It was a red shirt with Che’s face right in the center of it. Now I could have this girl pinned all wrong, but I doubt she supported the idea of communism, like many other people who find this shirt to be “cute.”

It’s not only on shirts that we see Che’s face now. From coffee mugs to posters, this guerrilla leader has transformed into a symbol for quasi-rebellious youth who don’t listen to their parents and who like to ditch class.

In there lies the dilemma. If my memory doesn’t fail me, Che followed orders from his superiors and put a huge emphasis on the education of his men. So already, these youth are nil for two.

I could see someone trying to use the excuse that he or she is honoring Che by wearing his shirt, thus promoting his ideology. In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth.

If Che were here today and saw his picture spread all over useless goods, he’d be disgusted. Just wearing an overpriced shirt undermines everything Che once stood for.

And if any of these people with Guevara shirts actually believed in what Che did, they wouldn’t have the shirt in the first place. They would be moving and shaking, trying to make the world a better, more equal place to live in.

Finally after the girl had passed me on the street, I thought how wrong it was to support something you know nothing about. But it seems like there is a lot of that, more and more everyday, in modern society.

People support Obama without knowing what his true plans are. Kids support parents’ ideology about politics and religion without questioning their own beliefs.

The fact that we are naive about certain issues, but still follow them blindly, is quite chilling.

And when you wear a Che shirt, you’re only adding to that effect. Wearing a Che T-shirt is nothing like wearing an armband to protest Vietnam or marching down the streets of Washington.

If you really want to honor Che, go find something you truly believe in and fight for it.