I have to be honest, I don't know much about Che Guevara but I know that he was a promoter of an economic style directly opposed to that of South Korea. Also from what I've researched it seems like he visited North Korea on at least one occasion and seemed to enjoy Mr. Kim Il Sung.
I just wonder, when you look at the countries that Guevara made an impact on or at least supported, what do they look like now? Cuba for example is for the most part a third world nation, North Korea is too. The Soviet Union...wait...the Soviet Union doesn't even exist anymore because it collapsed, maybe because of socialism?
When I consider internet, I see South Korea as the powerhouse of internet capabilities in the whole world. Look at Cuba, they basically have no internet. North Korea, they have trouble just keeping the lights on so internet is basically not possible, unless of course your part of the "upper-class". How would South Koreans survive without internet or Smart-phones? Honestly they would get along just fine, if not better without them but the point is, the countries Guevara advocated are slums or non-existent anymore, whereas South Korea is free and economically stable for the most part.
Here's are two examples of what I have seen and then one I pulled from the internet:
Saw this in a coffee shop
"Viva La Revolucion!!"...on socks
I got this one from the internet. The reason I posted it though is because I myself saw a similar flag at a soccer game awhile back but didn't take a picture of it I guess.
My question that I have alluded to throughout is, why would South Koreans want to wear stuff, fly flags or post huge pictures with this guys face on them?
--One possibility might be because people just don't know what Guevara stood for and just think the picture is cool.
--A second possibility might be that some people think that he was this "anti-establishment, freedom fighter awesome dude". The ironic thing about this again, is if you look at the nations he advocated it's pretty obvious that they are little more that oppressive dictatorships all hiding behind the guise of equal distribution of wealth amongst the classes. An argument could be made that China was a nation Guevara advocated for but China has developed into a more capitalistic country, despite having a communist government.
--A final possibility might be that some people know exactly what he stood for and wish South Korea would become what he wanted. Might make Korean reunification easier. On the other hand if these people wanted such an outcome I would wonder if they would be okay without internet or fast little phones or other cool little electronic gadgets that most seem to love here because it's not a likely thing to have in a socialist country. Would they be okay with less freedom as well, which also seems to be lacking in these socialist countries?
At the same time as I'm writing this I consider problems with the capitalist systems in both my home country America and South Korea. It's pretty obvious that there are serious problems in America. There seems to be an ever widening gap between the upper-class and the lower-class. The middle-class is becoming less and less. Prices on food, healthcare etc. are skyrocketing.
In South Korea I've heard from Koreans that there are serious problems with the aging population. It's becoming increasingly difficult for the elderly population to retire because everything costs so much. I've heard that many Koreans have to have two jobs and work at least 12 hours a day just to pay for small apartments that cost around $300,000. They also have to buy food which isn't always the cheapest. If they have children, paying for school is an added expense. In some ways life is very difficult here for a Korean.
So what's the answer for these struggling capitalist nations? More government oversight and more taking from the wealthier to give to the poorer? Maybe, but when you look at nations that are doing that now, it does not seem like things are going well. Does the answer lie somewhere in between? Should there be some capitalist mixed with some socialist?
In the end I don't claim to be an expert on this stuff and am willing to consider the possibility that I'm just completely naive on these issues.
Also I don't want people to think that because Guevara didn't support capitalism I think the freedom to display his picture on things should be oppressed. Absolutely not, I think freedom of expression is important. I guess I don't understand why anyone would want to displays this guys face around. But if that's what someone wants to do than so be it.
Anyways that's that...
Oh one final thought that popped into my head. It's a bit of irony actually: I wonder, with how anti-capitalist Guevara was, how he would feel about a capitalist system taking his picture and making tons of money off of it?
I'm out
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