Nobody burned the house down here while I was gone, but as I read through the comments I see that plenty of people kept lighting matches…I may not get much done tonight, but there will be a news feed — eventually.
I went into a 7-11 in Blacksburg this morning to buy a map, and on the way out I passed a hirsute young man wearing a Che Guevara shirt. He came out a minute later carrying three huge soft drinks, presumably returning to his den of infamy to plot revolution with his comrades while drinking soda pop…
[no more hokie hooey here]
7 comments:
Ugh... I feel so sorry for you that you had to see someone in a Che shirt. People can be so stupid sometimes.
Natalie, if you think that's bad; last year in the city of Jyväskylä -the capital of Central Finland- I stopped in a "five and dime" to purchase a couple of things and noticed a whole display of "back to school" binders, bags, pen cases etc, with the picture of "Che" on it.
Livid, I went to the store clerk and asked why they're selling such crap, would they think of doing the same with the pictures "Pol Pot, Idi Amin and King Leopold of Belgium"?
Asnwer: "everybody is selling them, so we are doing the same."
So there you have, "everbody is doing it, so it must be OK". As my mother used to say to little KGS when he exhibited a "herd mentality" a times:
"Everyone is jumping off bridges, are you going to jump off to?
My brother once had him on the wall for an entire year. I held my tongue for the sake of family harmony but I'm pretty sure he got the message anyway. I wanted to burn it.
Next time I see it I won't hesitate to get out the matches.
I held my tongue for the sake of family harmony.
Preference Falsification?
Last week I was on a ferry where a couple adolescents were wearing that criminal face. I didn't hesitate to tell them.
Later, I found one of those ugly black shirts lying around somewhere stupid, and went to the crew, asking them to take that ugly piece from the darkest side of politics away from me. He grinned broadly while taking it.
Everyday educational tactics :)
Living in Northern California, I see Che t-shirts now and then, it's always nauseating but not shocking. But I was actually shocked the other day when I saw a 30-something white guy wearing an Obama t-shirt. Obama's face took up the whole t-shirt. That was really bad. Now I'll have to vote for McCain, I don't want to see that face on t-shirts for four years.
Living in Portugal, I have to admit that such t-shirts are quiet common among the youth. I spent some of my vacations with a friend who's 19. He wear such a t-shirt.
I said to them: "How can you wear that? I'd rather go naked..."
His answer: "I can go naked but this t-shirt is awsome, great colours!"
That's the problem. Che Guevara is "cool".
However it's getting more and more usual among minorities...
I remember one time I saw a young, thirteen years old or so black boy with that T-shirt passing for me. I confrontated him and said: "Hey, you, why are you wearing that t-shirt? Do you know what that means?"
His answer, a bit frightened: "No, no, I don't."
My answer: "It is gay power, are you gay?"
I went away, but I could see in his face that Che Guevara was not so that cool for him anymore.
That's the secret. We have to erase the "coolness" of Che. An impossible task.
If you want to give Che shirt wearers a mental hotfoot, go to Che Mart (do a search on Che Mart and you'll get there) for a great selection of funny anti-Che and Che spoof T-shirts. Eventually, you'll run into a Che wearing schmuck and he/she will have a fit.
I have one that's a picture of Che after the Bolivians executed him and it says "Dead Che, your tax dollars at work." I've had two Che shirt wearing schmucks abruptly change direction when they saw it, which is too bad, I'd love to debate one of those fools on "The Real Che." Hee, hee.
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