Notes To A Young, Dumb Lefty
By Mitch Berg
Benicio Del Toro – an excellent actor, and, like too many actors, dumb as a bag of hammers about politics and history – is directing co-producing the yuuuuuuge biopic about Che Guevara:
When asked why the movie needed to be so long, co-producer and star Benecio Del Toro replied, “That is a question for Che. Why such a fulfilled life? We believe that this is the shortest film about Che Guevara’s revolutionary life that could be made.”
Mark Goldblatt in NRO, with emphasis added:
Well, no.
The shortest film about Che’s revolutionary life has already been made. In it, a couple of scruffy, paramilitary-looking, motorcycle-riding cartoon cockroaches decide to “take over” a kitchen, running amok until a giant muscle-bound can of Raid appears and “kills them dead.”
Guevara, in reality, belongs to that species of human vermin who attach themselves to a charismatic villain — in Che’s case, Fidel Castro; in Heinrich Himmler’s case, Adolf Hitler; in Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s case, Osama bin Laden — and enact their murderous agendas until the countervailing forces of history end their pathetic existences. Granted, Che is more photogenic than either the thin-lipped Poindexter Himmler or the hairy-backed Super Mario Brother Sheikh. It’s hard to imagine either of them ever moving a gross of tee shirts the way Che does. But the fact that Che continues to sell is a testament to the historical ignorance of every consumer of his visage.
I remember standing at Lake and Lyndale, at the little counterdemonstration with a little over a dozen of my friends and readers of this blog last year.
A cute redhead with a pierced nose and a carpenters apron festooned with fascist flair walked through the crowd selling buttons. Among them were a bunch of Che Guevara buttons.
“One dollar”, she said, perkily.
“You do know that Guevara was a mass murderer, don’t you? He ordered the execution of children?”
She grinned, looking a little dazed, and walked away to more fertile sales ground.
The guy ordered the murder of eight-year-old boys. He slaughtered entire families of his opponents. He was not merely a thug; he was a cowardly, sadistic thug.
To not only roil in admiration for Guevara, but to support a systematic, institutional beatification of such a person, complete with rewritten/suppressed history and iconic imagery?
Wow. Good thing that’s just the province of young, dumb radicals. Good thing no modern movement would immerse itself purely in a figure’s surface appeal and ignore all that’s underneath…
Since it’s inevitable that someone in my comment section will bleat “What? You’re comparing Obama and Che?” – Er, no.
I’m comparing their audiences.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 am
Search Order — by Raúl Rivero
What are these gentlemen looking for
in my house?
What is this officer doing
reading the sheet of paper
on which I’ve written
the words “ambition,” “lightness,” and “brittle”?
What hint of conspiracy
speaks to him from the photo without a dedication
of my father in a guayabera (black tie)
in the fields of the National Capitol?
How does he interpret my certificates of divorce?
Where will his techniques of harassment lead him
when he reads the ten-line poems
and discovers the war wounds
of my great-grandfather?
Eight policemen
are examining the texts and drawings of my daughters,
and are infiltrating themselves into my emotional networks
and want to know where little Andrea sleeps
and what does her asthma have to do
with my carpets.
They want the code of a message from Zucu
in the upper part
of a cryptic text (here a light triumphal smile
of the comrade):
“Castles with music box. I won’t let the boy
hang out with the boogeyman. Jennie.”
A specialist in aporia came,
a literary critic with the rank of interim corporal
who examined at the point of a gun
the hills of poetry books.
Eight policemen
in my house
with a search order,
a clean operation,
a full victory
for the vanguard of the proletariat
who confiscated my Consul typewriter,
one hundred forty-two blank pages
and a sad and personal heap of papers
–the most perishable of the perishable
from this summer.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 am
The most violent reaction I ever received, in conversation with a leftist, was when I remarked that the primary reason that Hitler and the NAZIs were so stridently anti-communist in their formative years was because they were trying to recruit the same people.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:47 am
Jdege,
The truth hits them hard! I almost made AC’s head explode making the same point here. Now instead of thinking about what makes him uncomfortable, he pretends to “shun” me, though I know he read this. There is no doubt, we are experiencing the rising tide of fascism with a smiley face.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Benicio Del Toro did not direct this movie.
Are you going to see this movie?
Did you ever see Munich?
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:23 pm
“The guy ordered the murder of eight-year-old boys.”
Got any evidence of that? The youngest I can find is 16 years old.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Did you intend that comment to be funny, RickDFL?
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Terry:
No. I leave joking about executions to Bush.
Do you intend your post as evidence that Che “ordered the murder of eight-year-old boys”? My suspicion is that this is another case of Mitch just inventing a fact.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I dunno. Seems funny to me. Like saying “Quit calling me a child killer! She was 16 for God’s sake!”.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
When will Peev come in here and defend his hero Che?
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Terry:
If Mitch had simply said Che was a ‘child killer’, I would have left him alone. But, per his MO, he had to add the extra false detail about the child’s age being 8. Perhaps de did not find Che’s actual record bloody enough.
What I find funny is a post berating leftists for their historical ignorance that relies on an easily verifiable and false statement.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
“When will Peev come in here and defend his hero Che?”
When will you find Mitch’s 8 year old murder victim?
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
It’s been a long time, Rick!
But you never disappoint. I figured when I wrote this you’d be the one to come racing back to defend this scumbag.
I can’t find the reference offhand – and I have no doubt that in your mind that completely validates Guevara and supposedly undrecuts my thesis.
The two of you are perfect for each other.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I see Rick’s supporting Che, too! At long last, kid, have you no shame?
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I defend the truth. I look forward to your reference, I suggest you start here
http://cubanology.com/Articles/willtherealche.htm
My suspicion – given the prolific nature of anti-Che materials put out by Cuban exiles – if you can not find it in less than a minute with Google, it ain’t there.
“I have no doubt that in your mind that completely validates Guevara”. I suppose so. You can not conceive why anyone would simply want to get the facts right. You are perfectly post-modern.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Badda
“have you no shame”
Enough not to make up false accusations.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
No, Rick, I can perfectly conceive of someone wanting to “get the facts straight” as long as they are purely in support of a murderous, but fashionably-leftist and oh-so-sexay thug.
“Sure, he was a thug, but he wasn’t as bad as YOU claim!”
Ah. TOtally different.
Whatever.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Didn’t you say that Bush joked about executing people? And then you have the nerve to blather about people making up false accusations?
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
“Sure, he was a thug, but he wasn’t as bad as YOU claim!”
And now – my second favorite Mitch tactic – the non-existent quote. I’ll make my points, you make yours – which still don’t include any evidence for your claim.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Denouce your hero, Tic-Rick… and encourage Peev to do the same.
Obama wants you to do it.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Rick, I don’t care to provide “evidence” to you. He was a murdering thug. Eight years old or sixteen, it doesn’t matter; he has provided three generations of young, dumb lefties with whacking material.
The ‘nonexistent quote’ is no such thing; it is parody.
Like this:
“You can’t find any evidence that Heinrich Himmler personally killed anyone, can you? No? Well, then,HAH!”
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Terry:
When I make an accusation I can back it up.
http://www.jregrassroots.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=10712
” I watched his interview with [Tucker], though. He asked her real difficult questions, like, ‘What would you say to Governor Bush?'”
“What was her answer?” I wonder.
“Please,” Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, “don’t kill me.”
I must look shocked – ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel, even for someone as militantly anticrime as Bush – because he immediately stops smirking.”
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Mitch:
“Eight years old or sixteen, it doesn’t matter”.
If you thought that, you would simply correct your mistake and move on.
If you want to call Che a murderous thug, there is material. But I think such accusations should be based on truth. Indeed the worse the criminal, the greater the need for accuracy.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I thought you’d bring up the case of Karla Faye Tucker. That would be the woman who hacked another woman to death with a pickaxe during a botched vengeance/robbery. In prison she claimed that she had turned her life around and wanted her sentence commuted. The entire accusation that Bush ‘jokes about executions’ hinges on this remebrance by Tucker Carlson:
In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, “A number of protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Karla Faye Tucker.” “Did you meet with any of them?” I ask. Bush whips around and stares at me. “No, I didn’t meet with any of them”, he snaps, as though I’ve just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. “I didn’t meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with Tucker, though. He asked her real difficult questions like, ‘What would you say to Governor Bush?'” “What was her answer?” I wonder. “‘Please,'” Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, “‘don’t kill me.'” I must have looked shocked — ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel — because he immediately stops smirking.
This is a report on a conversation that can have many interpretations.
In any event mocking the sudden respect for life a convicted murderer displays when it is her time to die is not the same as joking about executing people.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Terry:
“This is a report on a conversation that can have many interpretations”
Derrida would be proud.
“In any event mocking the sudden respect for life a convicted murderer displays when it is her time to die is not the same as joking about executing people.”
Well that is certainly a new defense. If you or your loved ones ever get executed, remind me to enjoy a chuckle.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Angryclown isn’t comparing Bush to Hitler – just comparing their audiences.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:20 pm
When I make an accusation I can back it up…
…usually with out of context BS.
Go forth, Che Defender.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Mitch, if you were an octopus, you’d have seven tentacles pointing back at you right now.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
And a beak, right?
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 pm
You don’t have invoke Dirreda to say say that Bush’s reported words can be interpreted different ways. You only have to note that there is no original source other than Carlson’s recollections a year after the supposed conversation took place. You also need to recall that this is the only such incident on record, as far as I can tell.
No postmodernism or dodgy logic required at all.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Mitch: “Help! I’m an octopus! YAGH! GET ME IN A SALT WATER AQUARIUM, STAT! Yagh! I’m going to ralf . . . yuk. I inked myself.”
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Why are you taking Guevara’s side anyhow, RickDFL? Guevara was a member of the upper class, like Castro, and he killed workers.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
RickDFL said:
“If you or your loved ones ever get executed, remind me to enjoy a chuckle”
If he or his loved ones hack someone to death with a pick axe, will do. Context always seems to go missing when you write, RickDFL. Strange for such a dedicated lover of “truth”. *shrug*
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Ya’ gotta hand it to Castro, Guevara, et al. Even the most fascist, militaristic generalisimo would balk at taking EVERYTHING the workers produce.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:06 pm
RickDFL: Mitch doesn’t seem to care about factual specifics here. He still thinks Del Toro directed Che.
I’ll be seeing the movie. I’m curious to see how it deals with his ugly side.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Anyone notice peev does not post comments on the threads Rick pops up on? If Rick were a bit more long winded, I’d have my suspicions.
Angryclown isn’t comparing Bush to Hitler – just comparing their audiences.
and if you knew history, philosophy, economics & fact, you’d know that fascism is a branch of the same leftist/collectivist tree that gave us socialism & communism… but you do not, & I’m not sure it’s on Wikipedia.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Hey Blofeld…
Del Toro was the Co-producer, which is what he’s credited with doing above… not by Mitch, but by Mark Goldblatt whom Mitch was quoting.
Friggin’ lefties, you have to do everything for them.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
My head hangs in shame, blofeld, mitch did write del Toro “…is directing”.
But really what differnce does it make?
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I want this photo on a Che shirt… Too bad you can’t see the fatal blow.
http://www.therealcuba.com/che-bolivia-4.jpg
Ricky Retardo, it’s estimated that 4000 Cubans met the same fate by either his command or his own hand… Do you think they were all documented? Do you think he cared if they were under 16?
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Mr. Shirt:
“I want this photo on a Che shirt”
Feel free. I suggest you invest your life savings in printing them up.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Wow… good zinger, did your “wife” help you write that?
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Oops. Brainfart. I’ve been coming down with the flu, and I transposed a couple of words.
Will correct.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Hey Ricky,
Speaking of his own hands, how do you like this photo?
http://www.therealcuba.com/handche.JPG
Latin American justice, good for Cuba, good for Bolivia.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Poor old Che. Another rich kid who played at being a revolutionary and got bullet in his head for his troubles.
From the Wikpedia account of Guevara’s miserable death:
During their short conversation, Guevara complained to Cortez about the poor condition of the schoolhouse, stating that it was “anti-pedagogical” to expect campesino students to be educated there, while “government officials drive Mercedes cars” … declaring “that’s what we are fighting against.”[101]
Which I take to mean that Che would hate DFl’rs.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:01 pm
With that in mind, I wonder what he’d think of the Castro brothers.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:27 am
Che died because Castro kicked him out of Cuba, Mr. Shirt. Kind of a ‘find your own patch, kid’ thing, I guess.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:42 am
Terry,
I know. I didn’t mean what would he think personally. It was more of a rhetorical question directed towards the state of reality.