[tomcam]

Cuba doesn't have solid medical care. They suppress free speech brutally. Che and Castro were viciously anti-gay. You can't get anything in the stores there, very much like Soviet era shopping. It's a fucking hell hole by Western standards.

[mc32]

The Che was a sadist not all too different from the nazi character in schindlers list who ‘hunts prisoners’ for fun. I don’t know how college students can wear his t-shirt alongside Bob Marley. Or even more ironic a BLM (the movement not the bureau) activist wearing his iconography. Maybe that can be chalked up to capitalism doing its thing…

[socialismisok]

Most college kids know the following about Che:

He saw the poverty and exploitation of LatAm by the US and others and decided to do something about it after the CIA assassinated Arbenz. He was pivotal in overthrowing Batista, an autocratic despot.

He later served in several government programs, and wrote a memoir about motorcycles.

He was eventually executed without trial by Bolivian special forces backed by the CIA.

But college kids probably don't know that much about the flip side of his character. Plenty of stories suggest he enjoyed killing - he certainly had no concerns about executions. He wrote some pretty racist stuff in his early life.

He's a complicated figure, for sure.

[tomcam]

I'm guessing by your username we're on opposite ends of the socialism thing. Don't care! I love your willingness to take evidence as it stands. Believe me, as a stout USA patriot and free market enthusiast, I do not shrink from the weaknesses of my positions either. For example, you're dead right (ahem) about the CIA. Sincere thanks for joining the discourse.

[socialismisok]

I think blind adherence to a doctrine is a big problem. I love talking about this stuff. And I want it to be approachable, reasoned, and something that someone might go, "well, I don't agree with you, but you aren't just a surface level ideologue".

[tomcam]

Dammit we need to start a podcast

[socialismisok]

Hahaha. Well, you see how quickly I'm vilified here! I'm not sure I'd be that excited about exposing myself to the wider internet. :D

I do try to respond to comments here with genuine answers and discourse, but the downvotes here lead me to believe a podcast would likely result in a lot of disinterest or angry mail headed my way.

[mc32]

I mean, he's quoted by a revolutionary publication as saying:

“We don’t need proof to execute a man. We only need proof that it’s necessary to execute him.”

“We executed many people by firing squad without knowing if they were fully guilty. At times, the Revolution cannot stop to conduct much investigation.”

Unfortunately, he appears not to have been assiduous in taking notes as Stalin was, so hard evidence, so far, is spotty.

[socialismisok]

Yep, you won't hear me disagree with you that he was very comfortable executing people extrajudicially.