Continuing with our red theme this morning,
El PaleoFreak has some radical imagery. The bourgeois Darwin would have freaked.
Look — you can get them on a t-shirt! (Errm, wait — isn’t combining Darwin, Che, and the rampant capitalism of CafePress an example of head-exploding irony?)
Stanton says
Wasn’t Mr Darwin a staunch, life-long capitalist in the first place?
Ashley says
So Ken Ham was right! Darwin _was_ a communist.
But ‘Vive la evolution’, who could pass up a pun like that?
Paul Lurquin says
Long Live the Glorious Darwinist Party! We have nothing to lose but our christian chains! OUR EVOLUTION WILL BE VICTORIOUS!
Orac says
Personally, I find combining imagery of a great scientist like Darwin with imagery based on a murderous thug like Che Guevara to be not particularly amusing and certainly nothing I’d ever want to be caught dead wearing.
Paul Lurquin says
Long Live the Glorious Darwinist Party! We have nothing to lose but our christian chains! OUR EVOLUTION WILL BE VICTORIOUS!
Paul Lurquin says
Long Live the Glorious Darwinist Party! We have nothing to lose but our christian chains! OUR EVOLUTION WILL BE VICTORIOUS!
Orac says
Personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead in a T shirt that combines the image of a great scientist like Darwin with that of a murderous, tyrannical thug like Che.
On the other hand, I do find the anticreationist thong to be somewhat amusing.
Joshua says
I’ve seen “Viva la Evolution” with a chimp graphic before, but I must say I like the Darwin version much better.
Stanton: Which actually makes using Darwin on the shirt less ironic than the original Che shirts, unless you count it as a double-irony. The way I see it, though, this cancels out the irony to make it just a normal, cool-looking shirt.
Joshua says
I’ve seen “Viva la Evolution” with a chimp graphic before, but I must say I like the Darwin version much better.
Stanton: Which actually makes using Darwin on the shirt less ironic than the original Che shirts, unless you count it as a double-irony. The way I see it, though, this cancels out the irony to make it just a normal, cool-looking shirt.
mcmillan says
No more so than the Che Store
Caucasian Jesus says
It’s only irony if you’re not the one making money off of it. :)
Caucasian Jesus says
It’s only irony if you’re not the one making money off of it. :)
Sili says
Does Spanish have elision?
My mediocre French makes me itch to get rid of that “a”.
(The one in “la evolution”, not the big, flamin’ red “A”.)
Sili says
Does Spanish have elision?
My mediocre French makes me itch to get rid of that “a”.
(The one in “la evolution”, not the big, flamin’ red “A”.)
Stuart Coleman says
Not Cafepress, they’re terrible. Seriously, their shirts are paper-thin and the prints degrade to nothing after a couple of washes.
This one from Busted Tees is much better, plus I own it (and the text is actually in Spanish, which makes sense).
Stuart Coleman says
Not Cafepress, they’re terrible. Seriously, their shirts are paper-thin and the prints degrade to nothing after a couple of washes.
This one from Busted Tees is much better, plus I own it (and the text is actually in Spanish, which makes sense).
Ben says
Makes me want to go back to wearing shirts again . . .
matthew says
mmmmmmm, delicious head exploding irony….
Orac says
More like an example of a stupidly offensive conflation of images. Che was nothing but Castro’s murderous thug of an enforcer who oversaw the kangaroo trials and excecutions of hundreds of Castro’s political enemies.
Stuart Coleman says
Not Cafepress, they’re terrible! Seriously, their shirts are paper-thin and the prints degrade to nothing after a couple of washes.
This one from Busted Tees is much better, plus I own it (and the text is actually in Spanish, which makes sense).
Stuart Coleman says
Not Cafepress, they’re terrible! Seriously, their shirts are paper-thin and the prints degrade to nothing after a couple of washes.
This one from Busted Tees is much better, plus I own it (and the text is actually in Spanish, which makes sense).
Bruce Perry says
Not bad, but I think this one’s funnier.
http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/vivalaevolucion/female
Bruce Perry says
Not bad, but I think this one’s funnier.
http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/vivalaevolucion/female
Bruce Perry says
Not bad, but I think this one’s funnier.
http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/vivalaevolucion/
TW says
Che was an idiot and the left/progressives do themselves a huge disservice by any association.
Bruce Perry says
Not bad, but I like this one better
http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/vivalaevolucion/
(features a chimp in place of Che)
MartinM says
Sadly, there are probably some creationists who would accept that as a reasonable argument.
TW says
Che (Cha?) was an idiot. The left/progressives do themselves a huge disservice with any association.
Brownian says
“On the other hand, I do find the anticreationist thong to be somewhat amusing.”
Thanks, Orac. That’ll take care of two of my biggest pet peeves: creationism and panty lines.
A boy’s got to look his best you know.
Jon says
Echo.. echo.. (echo..)
Dylan Stafne says
I like the branching evolutionary bush in place of the little star on Darwin’s hat.
Stuart Coleman says
Not Cafepress, they’re terrible! Seriously, their shirts are paper-thin and the prints degrade to nothing after a couple of washes.
This one from Busted Tees is much better, plus I own it (and the text is actually in Spanish, which makes sense).
Dylan Stafne says
I like the branching evolutionary bush in place of the little star on Darwin’s hat.
Reginald Selkirk says
“branching evolutionary bush” – “anticreationist thong”
You folks are giving me ideas.
bernarda says
orac has never been very good at history, “a murderous thug like Che Guevara”. Maybe orac prefers humanist Batista.
Geez, some scientists should get out a little more and learn something about the outside world.
The murderous thugs have been a century of American government leaders who have supported every dictatorial fascist regime in Latin America.
Maybe orac has never heard of Guzman in Guatemala or Allende in Chili. To name but two. But America did like Trujillo in the Dominican Republic and Somoza Somoza in Nicaragua. To name but two.
El PaleoFreak says
Thank you very much. The image on the right is not mine. Other person made it, by “convergent evolution” of the same idea, or perhaps by “descent with modification” ;-)
Bruce Perry says
Sorry about the multiple postings. I was getting an error message that made it appear that my posts were failing.
Moderators please feel free to delete the duplicates.
Rey Fox says
“I like the branching evolutionary bush in place of the little star on Darwin’s hat.”
Uh, that’s his hair.
Andrés says
“The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend.”
Andrés says
“The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend.”
DangerousRhythm says
Hey now, I own several Cafepress shirts and they’re absolutely fine after many washings. If you don’t want a paper thin shirt, pay attention to what kind of shirt you are getting because the site actually describes the fabric quality and thickness on each description. You should avoid the value shirt, apparently, but I’ve had no problems with the rest. Anyway, that thong was fun but this bumper sticker/shirt/whatever made me smile because someone gets it.
stogoe says
Oh, leave Orac alone. He’s just been attacked by the Che Vampire too often.
CHANGCHO says
Ha! Love it!
Sili says
Does Spanish have elision?
My mediocre French makes me itch to get rid of that “a”.
(The one in “la evolution”, not the big, flamin’ red “A”.)
Orac says
What is it that you think he was doing when he was in charge of the prison at La Cabaña Fortress? Overseeing the executions of hundreds of Castro’s political enemies, that’s what.
In any case, one doesn’t have to like Batista to know that Che was a murderous thug, nor does condeming Che as a murderous thug mean that I must always at the same time condemn other murderous thugs in Central America. Next you’ll say that whenever I condemn Hitler as a murderous thug I must always in the same breath condemn Stalin. Or maybe you’ll say or imply that I’m a hypocrite if I discuss the Holocaust but don’t mention slavery.
Oh, wait. You already did that.
But, hey, seeing an anti-Semite and probable Holocaust denier like you, bernarda, lecturing me about history did give me a good hearty belly laugh. Thanks.
(NOTE: As with several others in this thread, I also apologize for the multiple postings above; I kept getting error messages when I tried to comment.)
Zarquon says
The Evolution will not be televised.
John C. Randolph says
This is obscene. It’s a vicious smear of Charles Darwin to depict him in this way.
-jcr
Sophist, FCD says
xJane says
I think the phrase you’re looking for is “post modern”, rather than “head-exploding irony” but I suppose that’ll work in a pinch.
bernarda says
orac, you are a hypocrite. You chose to finger just Che and not to mention any of the fascist thugs Americans have supported throughout Latin America-nothing about dictators and death squads who have killed ten of thousands with American help and encouragement. Then, rather than sticking to the subject, you throw out your standard ad hominem attack using your pet WMD–words of mass destruction. That must certainly validate your argument, at least in your mind.
Thank you for sharing the link so that readers can understand your standard operating procedure.
Dr. Strangelove says
[quote]You chose to finger just Che [/quote]
Perhaps orac wanted to stick to the subject at hand instead of launching into an evaluation of all murderous thugs South America or indeed the entire world has ever known?
John C. Randolph says
Bernarda,
Why don’t you move to the socialist worker’s paradise of Cuba? They’ll give you the meds you so desperately need, free of charge!
While you’re there, you can praise Che all you want, and pretend not to notice that the Cubans would escape to a free country in a heartbeat if they had the chance.
-jcr
Anne Nonymous says
Wait, how did a silly T-shirt image (which is obviously not at all about glorifying Ché but is instead just using a well-known cultural reference for humorous purposes) spark a flamefest about Latin American Communism? Can’t you people take a joke?
I mean, srsly. Next there’s gonna be an argument about whether L0LCATS glorify bad grammar, or whether if you call that grammar bad it means you’re dismissing the very real educational issues in our crappy inner city schools that have resulted from Bush’s NCLB program.
bernarda says
Randolph, “While you’re there, you can praise Che all you want, and pretend not to notice that the Cubans would escape to a free country in a heartbeat if they had the chance.”
Oh! That is not at all like the American-run capitalist paradise of Haiti where no one would think of leaving.
Not exactly the same, since Cubans have universal health care and education. But in a functioning capitalist country like Haiti you don’t need those things.
Wingnuts are always good for a laff.
David Marjanović says
Nope. Uniquely among western Romance languages, it doesn’t, except in the fusion word del.
And then, as Busted Tees has understood, it has a saner orthography than French. ¡Viva la evolución!
It will be webcast!
Where to?
To America.
I fully agree with you on education and healthcare, but no, Orac is not required to list all thugs of Latin America every time he mentions Che.
David Marjanović says
Nope. Uniquely among western Romance languages, it doesn’t, except in the fusion word del.
And then, as Busted Tees has understood, it has a saner orthography than French. ¡Viva la evolución!
It will be webcast!
Where to?
To America.
I fully agree with you on education and healthcare, but no, Orac is not required to list all thugs of Latin America every time he mentions Che.
Julian says
Why is it that people can’t admit that Che was a thug AND that the U.S. has made some boneheadedly and callously incompetent choices in its campaign for western hemisphere empire? Pinochet, Che, Castro, Noreiga, ect.; They’re all homicidal egomaniacs, regardless of what politics they choose to justify that with!
I agree with Anne though; these shirts aren’t pol. statements, they are witty pop cultural references. If you think it in bad taste, very well, but you are making an Everest out of three loose peas on a plate.
Ribozyme says
I like this version of the Chimp-Ché t-shirt better. It looks so much more like the original Ché picture.
As a Latinamerican I must disagree with Bernarda. It wasn’t armed revolution that changed the status of more than one impoverished country, ruled by a tyrant. Usually revolutions made things worse (Cuba isn’t better off than with Batista and the Nicaraguan revolution didn’t do the country any good… to give just two examples). It was orderly regime changes by means of electoral processes (and, of course, some POLITICAL, not armed, pressure from outside). Just check how Chile (not “Chili”, that’s a Tex-Mex dish) got rid of Pinochet. Aldous Huxley in one of his books (I think it was “Brave New World Revisited”) said that sudden drastic political/economical changes do no good, and the facts have proven him right.
Marxism has always been more akin to religion than anything else (it had “scientific” pretenses, but its results and things like Lysenkoism disproved that), and nobody who is an adept reader of Pharyngula should be defending it.
By the way, Spanish doesn’t have elision, and “La Evolución” is correct.
changcho says
This is obscene. It’s a vicious smear of Ernesto Guevara to depict him in this way.