# Che Guevara **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 24, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706 "2006-10-24T14:35:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/1 "2006-10-24T14:35:29Z")
Great report **Bricker**! [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcheguevara.htm](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcheguevara.htm) ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/2 "2006-10-24T14:43:19Z")
Yes excellent report, **Bricker**. I have to say I did a double take when I saw your name next to that title. Though I disagree with most of your politics, you are my second favorite poster specifically because of your ability to rise above politics (though you still remain persnickety). Sorry, but no one really comes close to **Qadgop the Mercotan**. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/3 "2006-10-24T14:50:10Z")
Add my voice to the chorus here. I thought this was an excellent synopsis biography and analysis. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/4 "2006-10-24T15:04:20Z")
Well done! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Che would’ve been forgotten forty years ago if he hadn’t been so darned cute, an attribute Korda’s photo captured and the screen-printed reduction of his features into an icon accentuated. Unconsciously that same reduction of Che’s face to black and white followed the either/or descriptions **Bricker** quoted. Even more than today, there wasn’t much room for gray in political discussions in the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![nameless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/779978/32.png) [@nameless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nameless)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/5 "2006-10-24T15:07:03Z")
Really nice article, **Bricker**. I think it’s my favorite one you’ve done so far. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/6 "2006-10-24T16:05:26Z")
[QUOTE=flight] Yes excellent report, **Bricker**. I have to say I did a double take when I saw your name next to that title. [/QUOTE] No kidding. I didn’t see that he was the one who wrote it until I got to the end of the article and was surprised. Great report. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/7 "2006-10-24T17:02:13Z")
I agree with the others. As a result of Bricker’s report, I consider myself less ignorant than before. Well-written, full of facts, and no editorializing. Just the way I like. Thanks Bricker. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/8 "2006-10-24T17:33:42Z")
indeed, a fine report. nice work. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/9 "2006-10-24T17:51:14Z")
Author, author! ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/10 "2006-10-24T19:57:26Z")
This is going to earn me a lot of opprobrium around here, but I have to say it. You really soft-pedalled the son of a bitch, **Bricker**. Just a vague mention of the fact that he won “battles” through bribery, and that the only people we can be sure he actually shot himself were bound, blindfolded, and standing up against a wall? No mention of the human rights abuses? No note of the betrayal of the very people who supported him and Castro in the first place? Did you mention that their promise to reinstate the 1940 Constitution was abandoned as soon as they took power, and nobody knew it was a “socialist revolution” until after the fact? Batista was a dictator who overthrew a democratically elected (yet horribly corrupt) government, and should have been forced out long before he was, but what the Cuban people got instead was infinitely worse. Che’s legacy is easy to see. Go to Cuba and look around. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/11 "2006-10-24T20:40:02Z")
INFINITELY worse? Sure, things ain’t peachy in Cuba but American conservatives usually vastly overstate the evil of the Castro regime compared with, say, Pol Pot’s or even Saddam Hussein’s and blow their own credibility out of the water like the battleship Maine. I appreciate **Bricker** taking the middle ground and showing how and why Che is both loved and despised. But that belongs in GD, not here. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/12 "2006-10-24T23:07:42Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Pol Pot’s or even Saddam Hussein’s [/QUOTE] You could pick ten square miles of Hell and it would compare favorably to those shitholes. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/13 "2006-10-25T03:21:07Z")
Indeed, a good basic article. Thanks. May I hijack just a moment to ask a silly question about the Korda photograph? I know it is cropped from a larger frame which shows the balconey and some stern fellow’s profile, but I have heard something to the effect that Guevara’s eyes have been altered in all the prints – that originally he was clearly glancing down and to one side, but that in the familiar images we have seen, they’ve been manipulated to stare straight ahead… or something like that. I’ve never been able to note any difference in any prints I’ve seen, but it may just be me. Anybody have a copy of Korda’s untouched photo? Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/14 "2006-10-25T03:27:24Z")
says its the original: [http://www.aworldtowin.net/Che.html](http://www.aworldtowin.net/Che.html) ditto: [http://ils.unc.edu/~michm/Che/korda.html](http://ils.unc.edu/~michm/Che/korda.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/15 "2006-10-25T09:26:35Z")
You lot had better be careful what you say about my dad. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/16 "2006-10-25T12:19:02Z")
My brother (the ultra-safe, conservative accountant) has always found Che a most intriguing figure. He find us “adventurous types” fascinating, in general (and the notion of an engineer being adventurous tells you how non-adventurous he is). While he disagrees with Guevara in about 99% of their ideas\*, he considers Guevara a man of integrity - i.e., a man whose actions matched his ideas (the fact that his ideas were out of whack being a separate issue). I’m forwarding him the report, to practice his English. - Brother says he imagines Che and him agree on what to do when one needs to take a leak but that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/17 "2006-10-25T13:28:13Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] INFINITELY worse? Sure, things ain’t peachy in Cuba but American conservatives usually vastly overstate the evil of the Castro regime compared with, say, Pol Pot’s or even Saddam Hussein’s and blow their own credibility out of the water like the battleship Maine. I appreciate **Bricker** taking the middle ground and showing how and why Che is both loved and despised. But that belongs in GD, not here. [/QUOTE] Pointing to the killing fields of Pol Pot’s Cambodia and Hussein’s Iraq as reference points doesn’t buttress your argument whatsoever. You should familiarize yourself with Amnesty International. The human rights abuses in Castro’s Cuba will make you wince. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/18 "2006-10-25T14:43:08Z")
Another aspect of the cult of Che is that it crossed ideological lines, in Latin America at least. Though by no means universal, one finds admirers across the political spectrum who revere Che as a symbol of Latin American nationalism. When I read Jon Lee Anderson’s biography, the description of the teenage Che shagging the maid on the kitchen table was enough to shatter the saintly image. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/19 "2006-10-25T14:48:13Z")
Anyone seen the movie _The Motorcyle Diaries_? Any good? Historically accurate? I hadn’t realized before seeing the original photo so helpfully linked-to by **Gfactor** that Che looked a little cock-eyed, or lazy-eyed. One eye is clearly different from the other. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706/20 "2006-10-25T14:49:24Z")
He had a lazy eye, if I recall correctly. It’s one of the reasons he was a sucky shot. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/che-guevara/377706.md?page=2)