Or CNN, has come out with an article about the book “Che’s Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image” by Michael Casey, which I wrote about in a previous post, talking about the Che icon. Whenever we talk about Che Guevara, we must talk about what he represented and what he did. We must talk about his summary executions of thousands of political opponents. We must talk about his promotion of violent revolutions around the world. We must talk about when he said that “a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.” Of course, CNN did no such thing, simply calling Che Guevara a “charismatic and controversial leader.”

Not once did the author of this article, Brian Byrnes, use the word murder… or execution… or rationing of goods… or brutal… or any other description that strays from the portrayal of Che as an icon for “change” and “rebellion.” Imagine an article about Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, or John Wayne Gacy without ever mentioning the words “serial” or “killer.” I guess when you kill dozens you’re considered a murderer, and when you kill thousands you’re considered an icon. It is disrespectful to the countless dead as a direct result of his communist revolution and to the millions of Cubans living in exile because of the brutal regime he was a part of.

There is one thing that we learn from this blind reverence of Che Guevara: in the modern era, so called “educated” people can still fall under the spell of demagogues despite their crimes against humanity… and that should scare us all.

-AG