I haven’t seen, and won’t see, The Motorcycle Diaries, but Paul Berman has it exactly right about the narcissistic thug himself, and about the romantics of revolutionary violence who admire him. (In my mind’s ear I hear Judy Collins’s voice — back when Judy Collins had a voice — chanting “One MOR-ning in Bo-LIV-i-AAA, the leader of the PAR-ti-SANS … “)
The moral similarities between the romantics of the left and the faux-macho chickenhawks of the right are really quite striking. Both are enamored of violence as long as they don’t have to participate themselves, and all of them feel that their lack of sympathy for the victims of violence demonstrates their superior manhood.
Feh.