Yeah I am the kid you are talking about. True, I have no idea what the cuban revolution was really like, or whether or not I would approve of the things done in it's name by Che or Fidel or any other. When I wear this T-shirt, or the one with Fidel on it, or the one with the hammer/sickle, I am doing it in near total and unapologetic ignorance of the actual historical facts. I will keep doing it too.

After all, I've been purposefully miseducated my whole life, advertised to by corporations who wanted to install romantic ideas in my head to sell me their products. Che is no more a real person to me than Jesus, Santa Claus, or Don Draper.

What I DO interact with in my daily life are cultural memes, and the cultural meme surrounding che is that he was a revolutionary who freed the cuban people from the american empire.

As somebody who feels like I need to be rescued from an american(?)(international?) empire, the image of Che is a powerful symbol to me, and until that context changes I will continue to want what that symbol represents, freedom.

Any companies that want to sell me products would be well advised to launch a campaign against SOPA and start trying to take down the fascist state, install a little socialism in it's place. Plastering Che on their promotional materials is not enough to impress me, but they are just responding to the market.

If what you say is true, and it became the new accepted narrative on Che, then the meaning of the image would change and it would no longer appeal to me. Until then... vive la revolution ;)