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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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« For the glory of the worker! | Main | Credit where credit is due »
Category: Weirdness
Posted on: September 12, 2007 10:49 AM, by PZ Myers
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?)
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Comments
Wasn't Mr Darwin a staunch, life-long capitalist in the first place?
Posted by: Stanton | September 12, 2007 10:51 AM
So Ken Ham was right! Darwin _was_ a communist.
But 'Vive la evolution', who could pass up a pun like that?
Posted by: Ashley | September 12, 2007 10:56 AM
Long Live the Glorious Darwinist Party! We have nothing to lose but our christian chains! OUR EVOLUTION WILL BE VICTORIOUS!
Posted by: Paul Lurquin | September 12, 2007 11:03 AM
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.
Posted by: Orac | September 12, 2007 11:04 AM
Long Live the Glorious Darwinist Party! We have nothing to lose but our christian chains! OUR EVOLUTION WILL BE VICTORIOUS!
Posted by: Paul Lurquin | September 12, 2007 11:05 AM
Long Live the Glorious Darwinist Party! We have nothing to lose but our christian chains! OUR EVOLUTION WILL BE VICTORIOUS!
Posted by: Paul Lurquin | September 12, 2007 11:07 AM
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.
Posted by: Orac | September 12, 2007 11:07 AM
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.
Posted by: Joshua | September 12, 2007 11:22 AM
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.
Posted by: Joshua | September 12, 2007 11:24 AM
No more so than the Che Store
Posted by: mcmillan | September 12, 2007 11:26 AM
It's only irony if you're not the one making money off of it. :)
Posted by: Caucasian Jesus | September 12, 2007 11:26 AM
It's only irony if you're not the one making money off of it. :)
Posted by: Caucasian Jesus | September 12, 2007 11:31 AM
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".)
Posted by: Sili | September 12, 2007 11:32 AM
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".)
Posted by: Sili | September 12, 2007 11:34 AM
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).
Posted by: Stuart Coleman | September 12, 2007 11:42 AM
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).
Posted by: Stuart Coleman | September 12, 2007 11:45 AM
Makes me want to go back to wearing shirts again . . .
Posted by: Ben | September 12, 2007 11:50 AM
mmmmmmm, delicious head exploding irony....
Posted by: matthew | September 12, 2007 11:51 AM
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.
Posted by: Orac | September 12, 2007 11:51 AM
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).
Posted by: Stuart Coleman | September 12, 2007 11:53 AM
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).
Posted by: Stuart Coleman | September 12, 2007 11:57 AM
Not bad, but I think this one's funnier.
http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/vivalaevolucion/female
Posted by: Bruce Perry | September 12, 2007 12:00 PM
Not bad, but I think this one's funnier.
http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/vivalaevolucion/female
Posted by: Bruce Perry | September 12, 2007 12:01 PM
Not bad, but I think this one's funnier.
www.bustedtees.com/shirt/vivalaevolucion/
Posted by: Bruce Perry | September 12, 2007 12:02 PM
Che was an idiot and the left/progressives do themselves a huge disservice by any association.
Posted by: TW | September 12, 2007 12:04 PM
Not bad, but I like this one better
www.bustedtees.com/shirt/vivalaevolucion/
(features a chimp in place of Che)
Posted by: Bruce Perry | September 12, 2007 12:04 PM
Sadly, there are probably some creationists who would accept that as a reasonable argument.
Posted by: MartinM | September 12, 2007 12:04 PM
Che (Cha?) was an idiot. The left/progressives do themselves a huge disservice with any association.
Posted by: TW | September 12, 2007 12:07 PM
"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.
Posted by: Brownian | September 12, 2007 12:15 PM
Echo.. echo.. (echo..)
Posted by: Jon | September 12, 2007 12:20 PM
I like the branching evolutionary bush in place of the little star on Darwin's hat.
Posted by: Dylan Stafne | September 12, 2007 12:29 PM
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).
Posted by: Stuart Coleman | September 12, 2007 12:30 PM
I like the branching evolutionary bush in place of the little star on Darwin's hat.
Posted by: Dylan Stafne | September 12, 2007 12:31 PM
"branching evolutionary bush" - "anticreationist thong"
You folks are giving me ideas.
Posted by: Reginald Selkirk | September 12, 2007 12:35 PM
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.
Posted by: bernarda | September 12, 2007 1:01 PM
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" ;-)
Posted by: El PaleoFreak | September 12, 2007 1:10 PM
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.
Posted by: Bruce Perry | September 12, 2007 1:10 PM
"I like the branching evolutionary bush in place of the little star on Darwin's hat."
Uh, that's his hair.
Posted by: Rey Fox | September 12, 2007 1:42 PM
"The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend."
Posted by: Andrés | September 12, 2007 1:44 PM
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.
Posted by: DangerousRhythm | September 12, 2007 3:07 PM
Oh, leave Orac alone. He's just been attacked by the Che Vampire too often.
Posted by: stogoe | September 12, 2007 3:43 PM
Ha! Love it!
Posted by: CHANGCHO | September 12, 2007 3:58 PM
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".)
Posted by: Sili | September 12, 2007 4:00 PM
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.)
Posted by: Orac | September 12, 2007 4:06 PM
The Evolution will not be televised.
Posted by: Zarquon | September 12, 2007 6:37 PM
This is obscene. It's a vicious smear of Charles Darwin to depict him in this way.
-jcr
Posted by: John C. Randolph | September 12, 2007 9:57 PM
Posted by: Sophist, FCD | September 12, 2007 10:02 PM
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.
Posted by: xJane | September 12, 2007 10:05 PM
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.
Posted by: bernarda | September 13, 2007 3:20 AM
[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?
Posted by: Dr. Strangelove | September 13, 2007 3:51 AM
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
Posted by: John C. Randolph | September 13, 2007 4:43 AM
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.
Posted by: Anne Nonymous | September 13, 2007 5:46 AM
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.
Posted by: bernarda | September 13, 2007 9:15 AM
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.
Posted by: David Marjanović | September 13, 2007 10:31 AM
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.
Posted by: Julian | September 13, 2007 1:12 PM
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.
Posted by: Ribozyme | September 13, 2007 8:23 PM
This is obscene. It's a vicious smear of Ernesto Guevara to depict him in this way.
Posted by: changcho | September 13, 2007 11:25 PM