Many years ago in South Africa I encountered a group of students protesting the death penalty. Fair enough. I am anti-death penalty myself.

But what caught my eye was the protesting students' attire. They all sported Che Guevarra T-shirts. You've seen them. They're dyed a deep red with an image of Che Guevarra's hirsute, beret topped visage printed on the front.

In real life Che Guevarra was Fidel Castro's chief executioner. He signed thousands of death warrants. "Enemies of the revolution" by the thousand were executed by firing squad in an Havana sports stadium.

It is hard to imagine a less apt symbol for death penalty abolitionists than Che.

I asked the students why Che. It soon became apparent that they knew nothing about the real Che and weren't interested in learning.

Last night on Lateline I saw a segment on Hong Kong.

See:

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2007/s1966408.htm

One of the opposition figures was shown with a "Che banner" in the background.

There are multiple ironies here. But leaving that aside, what is going on here? How did a tawdry South American thug become the symbol for .... well what exactly? Among his admirers what does this murderer actually represent?

Are we seeing the birth of a new religion here? Is this how it happens?

Will this dead, dimwitted Latin American goon become the centre of a new quasi-religious movement

Steven.. the more I read of your thoughtful posts, the more I am thrilled that someone is delving into serious and important issues !

"I asked the students why Che. It soon became apparent that they knew nothing about the real Che and weren't interested in learning"

You would have observed the almost rabid rejection of any criticism of the real "prophet" of a major world religion in these threads and in many web sites.

People will cling to an idealized version of some one to look up to, and once they have made that intellectual decision, it is very difficult for them to confront anything negative about said identity.

It creates serious cognitive dissonance and feelings of threat. They resolve that dissonance by simply denying and rejecting the unpalatable (yet true)

Keep up the great work

There is of course a precedent for a tawdry thug becoming the focus of adulation.

What was Muhammed if not a tawdry Arabian thug?

Above all, he (Mohammad) was a human. A man who claimed to have had certain extremely stressful emotional/spiritual experiences, the source of which is open to serious psychological/spiritual question. God knows.
I consider him to be a man who managed to resolve those emotional/psychological crises in such a way that he appears to believe he had something important to offer mankind.
Unforunately, as his power grew, his methods changed. Preaching alone was lamentably innefective. 3 yrs and just a handful of followers. (albeit staunch)
Finally, as his military and political power grew, the dark side of his humanity emerged. Murder, torture, abundance of women, genocide, self serving 'revelations'. Condemnation of opponents, execution of those who mocked him. But he did manage to carve out a workable alliance of Arab tribes, and we have what we see today.

Che Guavara chose a socio/political philosophy which failed to recognize human nature, and used the same methods as Mohammad.. executions, murder of political opponents..military campaigns.. I shudder to think what would befall the world if Che Guavara had ascended to high power. Apart from the spiritual side, there is little difference in Guavara and Mohammad. Guavara lived humbly, worked for the poor, helped the needy.

Its interesting to note, that he also was charactized by a sense of mission to the downtrodden... pity about the "not so downtrodden" he murdered along the way.

I wrote the Pablo Escobar threads (Good guy/bad guy)for the same reason you did this one. (I assume)

In this informercial, over to you Steven.

for the benefit of those who came in late, che was a revolutionary, and might have called himself a communist. he played a big role in getting rid of a brutal and corrupt regime in cuba. instead of retiring to a life of ease and fat cigars, he left cuba to liberate the countries of south and central america from the usual line up of capitalists and dictators. it got him killed in some nameless jungle.

young people admire heroes, that's why his face is on so many tee shirts.