Adios Che

Michelle Malkin has been reporting on the superstore Target's fascination with Che Guevara merchandise. Well, apparently, Target got wind that quite a negative press bubble was building regarding ole' Che and pulled the material from their shelves.

Target had touted a music disc carrying case for Che admirers emblazoned with the Argentine-born guerrilla's iconic 1960 portrait by Alberto Diaz, or "Korda." A set of small earphones was superimposed on the image, suggesting he was tuned in to an iPod or other music player.

"It is never our intent to offend any of our guests through the merchandise we carry," Target said in a statement. "We have made the decision to remove this item from our shelves and we sincerely apologize for any discomfort this situation may have caused our guests."

I actually saw this item while Christmas shopping a week or two ago. I'm sure the avowed communist would be thrilled that his image is being exploited by the American capitalist society. Irony as always has a grand sense of humor.

I've seen Che's ridiculous face plastered all over Tshirts worn by coeds at our local college campus as well. I often wonder if they'd know or care that he was personally responsible for the deaths of over 2,000 people in the glorious Cuban revolution, many of them children. Given the vacuous nature of most young college students, though (and we were this way when we were that age, although admittedly I would never have worn a Che or "I love Uncle Joe Stalin" Tshirt), most probably don't even know who the hell he is, let alone his sordid history as a degenerate and murderer.

Consider this from the normally left-leaning online rag, Slate.

...Che was a mainstay of the hardline pro-Soviet faction, and his faction won. Che presided over the Cuban Revolution's first firing squads. He founded Cuba's "labor camp" system—the system that was eventually employed to incarcerate gays, dissidents, and AIDS victims.

There are many apologists for pure evil in the world and Che is often the beneficiary of some of these apologists. Slate in this case couldn't perform for him, and it's a rare treat.

Personally, I say sell what you want. It's a capitalist society and if you want to sell things that are in extremely poor taste, you'll have lots of company. Still, if a communist icon misses another chance at immortality and idolatry, I also won't shed a bitter tear. On another personal note, I'm glad Che's dead and I'll be even happier when his revolutionary brother Fidel follows him into the fires of hell he so richly earned.