Today’s T Shirt Che, Yesterday’s Real Life Killer
An Essay by Roberto Guzman
Nowadays the image of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara is all over the place.
He’s on T-shirts, banners and
bumper stickers.
Celebrities from Madonna to Mike Tyson carry his picture on...
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Today’s T Shirt Che, Yesterday’s Real Life Killer
An Essay by Roberto Guzman
Nowadays the image of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara is all over the place.
He’s on T-shirts, banners and
bumper stickers.
Celebrities from Madonna to Mike Tyson carry his picture on their clothing or their
bodies.
Guitar player Carlos Santana even wore his image on his T-shirt during a ceremony honoring
his musical career.
This is incredibly ironic in a number of ways.
El Che was a hardcore Marxist who hated free
enterprise and capitalism.
Yet today his picture is making millions of dollars for American companies
like Burlington Coat Factory and other firms that care nothing for the Argentinean’s political ideas.
In
other words his image is supporting the economic system that he violently tried to destroy.
It is also ironic in other ways.
Today Che Guevara has become an international symbol of
individual rebelliousness and independence.
In real life, however, Ernesto Che Guevara hated nonconformity and indiv
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