Why do people wear Che Guevara shirts and not Hermann Goering shirts?

[Vessol]

Seriously. When you talk about the nazis, almost everyone will universally agree that they were immoral and horrible and all that jazz. Excluding of course a few crazy neo-nazi's.

However, when you bring up the Soviet Union, or Cambodia, or China, or any other communist regime. Most of the general population, in America at least, will agree that they were wrong and bad. But, they will not speak of them at all like they speak of Nazi Germany. Most will talk about how it was wrong and that's about it, their "give a fuck" meter just doesn't register. This is regardless of the fact that the body count for the communist regimes is far higher than Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy.

Some will even go as far to make excuses such as "Well..that really wasn't communism." How insane would it be for me to say to people "Well..the Nazi's really weren't true national socialists."

[goldencane]

Because world history textbooks spend a whole chapter about the Nazi's and only a paragraph or two about what all those other communist regimes did. Even then, I bet if some popular underground band wore a Goering shirt, quite a few people would be walking around with one on shortly after.

[PineGroveDave]

I can see, and understand, how men like Che are created.

[I Don't Vote]

Because Che has sex appeal, whereas Mao, Stalin, and Hitler do not.

Plus, liberals seem to be okay with Cuba and Venezuela, even though their leaders are junior tyrants and not up to par with the world's more successful killing machines.

[oyarde]

Good question , ignorance , I imagine.

[Sola_Fide]

I can see, and understand, how men like Che are created.

How's that?

[TruckinMike]

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[acptulsa]

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"There is one thing in common with all revolutions (in fact, they are pretty much like wars in that respect), nobody ever knows what they are fighting about."--Will Rogers

[A Son of Liberty]

Che, in particular among the communist revolutionaries, is memorialized on campuses across the nation and world as a revolutionary on behalf of the people. Communism in general is regarded in such a way, but your Lenin's and your Mao's and their murderous campaigns are given short mention, proclaimed to be outliers and not truly representative of communism... move along.

Yes, communist revolutionaries are palatable to the left because their crimes - however "unfortunate" - are committed "on behalf" of "the people".

[Andrew-Austin]

I've seen people wear the Soviet Union Hammer and Sickle on their shirt. Big flaming red shirts with the yellow symbol on it.

Just waiting for the opportunity to approach one of these people and ask them if they have a t-shirt with the Nazi swastika on it as well.

[A Son of Liberty]

Do you think those folks are really communists; or do you think it's just a superficial, trendy thing? I'm guessing that most folks caught in such a t-shirt couldn't tell you what the symbol even is...

[Justinjj1]

Most people view Guevara as a freedom fighter, who gave up an upper class lifestyle to travel around the world fighting to free an oppressed people, and died a martyrs death. Most people who wear his shirts, probably don't know about all the prisoners of Batistas regime he had murdered without a fair trial, or about the fellow guerillas that he had executed because he thought they were disloyal. I'm definitely not a fan of Guevara, but I also don't think there is a moral equivalancy between him and Hermann Goering, Stalin, or Pol Pot.

[awake]

Because the crimes of national socialism have been falsely divided away from the crimes of communism in some left/right polarity. To this day, communism killed many more than Naziism, hundreds of millions more, but the latter is paraded as evil and reprehensible; the former still very much alive in the minds of intellectuals who spew it and minimize its crimes. Another reason that we overlook the communist atrocities is that we could never reconcile being allied with and a direct supporter of it, in which the term "the Allies" directly represents.

Both systems (actually one in the same with different means to achievement) are what happens when people trade in the free economy and the idea of individual private property rights for government security. The socialist experiments of the 20th century provide a crystal clear lesson that screams out upon our self imposed deafness and blindness: mass death is what happens when we adopt the idea 'that government is the answer to all problems'.

The U.S. is flirting with the national socialist / fascist method of attainment.

[oyarde]

Most people view Guevara as a freedom fighter, who gave up an upper class lifestyle to travel around the world fighting to free an oppressed people, and died a martyrs death. Most people who wear his shirts, probably don't know about all the prisoners of Batistas regime he had murdered without a fair trial, or about the fellow guerillas that he had executed because he thought they were disloyal. I'm definitely not a fan of Guevara, but I also don't think there is a moral equivalancy between him and Hermann Goering, Stalin, or Pol Pot.

Except for the last sentence , my thoughts as well.

[Pericles]

Except for the last sentence , my thoughts as well.
Che had a better PR department.

[heavenlyboy34]

The U.S. is flirting with the national socialist / fascist method of attainment.

And has been for over 100 years. :(

[Zippyjuan]

Stalin killed more people than Hitler ever did. I don't think either of them or their minion should be held up as heroes- even as counter-revolutionary ones.