Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Pretty Faces and Bloodshed
In political polemics, symbolism is everything. Objectivity and facts may fill in the spaces, but beliefs are emotionally based and nothing can rally the emotions like a good symbol.
Decades after its advent, the symbol of starry eyed rebellion still holds sway in the image of Che Guevara. A combination of good looks, and the good luck of a photo moment, have produced the deceptive symbol for a thousand T-shirts and college dorm wall posters.
I've commented on Che and his type before. As someone who favors liberty and knows what a contrived rebel symbol can actually stands for, I'm not so impressed with the gaze that launched a thousand spoiled brats.
Che Guevara is the perfect icon for a new generation of barely educated radical wannabes. Even some folks in the Left of Center crowd (one's who are a little more honest about what they hope to stand for) will occasionally note the reality behind the symbol. This is the case with Paul Berman's essay on The Cult of Che (a link I had found inThe Tanuki Ramble).
Thomas Jefferson was a revolutionary. Che Guevara was no more than a dogmatic ego-maniac with a pretty face --hardly the symbol of rebellion.
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In other news with a Latin flavor, Oliver Stone -- paranoid misogynist Leftist and movie director -- has cranked out another sham documentary honoring the cult of authoritarian one-party ideology.
It appears that Stone has had too many movies get by the American capitalist "censors" and accumulated too much cash from that market economy he despises.
Film and image are important. Symbols are everything, but that doesn't mean that they're always honest or bare the slightest correlation with objective reality.
Some symbols should be feared -- or laughed off as mere exercises in delusional con-artistry.
Decades after its advent, the symbol of starry eyed rebellion still holds sway in the image of Che Guevara. A combination of good looks, and the good luck of a photo moment, have produced the deceptive symbol for a thousand T-shirts and college dorm wall posters.
I've commented on Che and his type before. As someone who favors liberty and knows what a contrived rebel symbol can actually stands for, I'm not so impressed with the gaze that launched a thousand spoiled brats.
Che Guevara is the perfect icon for a new generation of barely educated radical wannabes. Even some folks in the Left of Center crowd (one's who are a little more honest about what they hope to stand for) will occasionally note the reality behind the symbol. This is the case with Paul Berman's essay on The Cult of Che (a link I had found inThe Tanuki Ramble).
Thomas Jefferson was a revolutionary. Che Guevara was no more than a dogmatic ego-maniac with a pretty face --hardly the symbol of rebellion.
************************************************************
In other news with a Latin flavor, Oliver Stone -- paranoid misogynist Leftist and movie director -- has cranked out another sham documentary honoring the cult of authoritarian one-party ideology.
It appears that Stone has had too many movies get by the American capitalist "censors" and accumulated too much cash from that market economy he despises.
Film and image are important. Symbols are everything, but that doesn't mean that they're always honest or bare the slightest correlation with objective reality.
Some symbols should be feared -- or laughed off as mere exercises in delusional con-artistry.
