It’s Smartifying – That Che Guevara Dude (Part 2)

Ummm… Clearly I am an idiot. Seriously. Poor Che. He is such an inspirational figure and before this entry, all I thought about him was “he looks like someone I would date” (hilariously, his Wiki article says that his nic name as a kid was “pig” because he didn’t bathe and wore the same shirt every day of the week. TOTALLY my type).

He was a doctor! I had no idea. By all accounts,  he was a very smart and passionate man. I don’t know if I agree with the violence and the executions, but he was definitely a sexy bitch.

Here’s  what I found out:

His last name was Rivara.

WRONG. It’s  Ernesto “Che” Guevara, aka El Che. Apparently he got the nic name “Che’ because he used to say it so often (che being Argentinian slang in the same way that “eh” is Canadian slang).

Che was a Mexican.

Embarrassingly WRONG!! He was born in Argentina, BUT he did live in Mexico for awhile so I wasn’t completely off base. At least I knew he spoke Spanish?

Che was a revolutionist.

CORRECT! He was a Marxist Revolutionary who was so bummed by the poverty he saw around him that he sought to overthrow capitalist society (using force) and transform the world. He was a key figure in the Cuban Revolution.

Che was in prison at least once in his life.

WRONG! Whoops!

Che is dead (he probably died in prison).

WRONG (again). The Bolivians executed him and then chopped off his hands (kind of gross).

Che rode a motorcycle in a cute little hat – kind of like an arty Mexican James Dean.

I thought I made this detail up, but not only did Che ride a motorcycle, he wrote a book about his bike trip called The Motorcycle Diaries! Cha-ching! Not exactly the Mexican James Dean, but he did wear a cute little beret (which I assume was part of his military uniform).

Stoners love Che.

According to the Wiki, Che is a symbol of “youthful rebellion”.

It’s Smartifying – That Che Rivera Dude

I have no idea why I was thinking about him this morning, but it suddenly occurred to me that I have no idea who Che is. I don’t even know his last name. It’s something like Rivera or Guivara or something that rhymes with air-ah. I thought it would make a great Smartifying* entry, so here we go.

Here’s what I THINK I know:

• Che was a Mexican.
• Che was a revolutionist.
• Che was in prison at least once in his life.
• Che is dead (he probably died in prison).
• Che rode a motorcycle in a cute little hat – kind of like an arty Mexican James Dean.
• Stoners love Che.

*Smartifying: Where I demonstrate how ignorant I am on a particular topic (making you feel like a mental GIANT), and then google or wiki the subject at hand to prove/disprove what I thought I knew.