For a more recent example of totalitarian fashion, consider Tim Vincent, the New York correspondent for NBC's entertainment newsmagazine, ''Access Hollywood." Twice in the last few weeks, Vincent has introduced stories about upcoming movies while sporting an open jacket over a bright red T-shirt -- on which, clearly outlined in gold, was a large red star and a hammer-and-sickle: the international emblems of totalitarian communism. ... On West 4th Street in Manhattan, the popular KGB Bar is known for its literary readings and Soviet propaganda posters. In Los Angeles, the La La Ling boutique sells baby clothing emblazoned with the face of Che Guevara, Fidel Castro's notorious henchman. At the House of Mao, a popular eatery in Singapore, waiters in Chinese army uniforms serve Long March Chicken, and a giant picture of Mao Zedong dominates one wall. What can explain such ''communist chic?" How can people who wouldn't dream of drinking in a pub called Gestapo cheerfully hang out at the KGB Bar? If the swastika is an undisputed symbol of unspeakable evil, can the hammer-and-sickle and other emblems of communism be anything less?

In an article entitled "Gates Open to Vietnam's IT Potential" (pun probably intended) MSN Money details in glowing terms the recent trip by Bill Gates to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam:

As Vietnam's Communist party apparatchiks met this weekend under portraits of Marx and Lenin for the opaque process of selecting the country's new rulers, Bill Gates, the world's richest man, landed in Hanoi for a one-day visit and was received as a conquering hero. Mr Gates, founder and chairman of Microsoft, a first-time visitor to Vietnam and the epitome of capitalist success, was given a red carpet welcome at the dilapidated Hanoi University of Technology, where he was mobbed by thousands of cheering students, many clutching Vietnamese-language versions of his books. The rapturous reception given the Microsoft founder – as the country's leaders were discussing the "socialist-oriented market economy" – reflects the conflicting impulses in today's Vietnam, where the ruling communists are struggling to reconcile their aspirations for a strong "knowledge-based economy" with the legacy of the socialist past. The fledgling private sector, though dynamic, remains small and constrained. There are almost no large private companies, and the sector lacks substantial heft, a potential obstacle to technological progress. (U)niversities and higher education institutes are controlled by education ministry bureaucrats, who dictate the entire curriculum, including mandating extensive study of Marxist-Leninist theory and "Ho Chi Minh thought". Universities produce almost no original research and are detached from business or industry.

The English language version of VietNamnet Bridge, a state-owned enterprise under the Vietnam Post & Telecommunications Corporation, recounts the question and answer period between Vietnamese students and Chairman Bill:

(T)hey boldly asked questions about the future, for a Vietnam full of potential: what should we do to set up a company like Microsoft? In interviews, Gates showed candor. “I dropped out of university and I recommend you to not do like me. I had to line up hours and hours to be able to touch a computer. I didn’t have Internet at the time to search for information and make communications like today.” Many ‘curious eyes’ turned up to hear the chairman speak. He didn’t have time enough time to answer everyone, but he gave the impression that he was no stranger to the queries common to successful people who once struggled: “Have you ever felt wretched and suffered failure? Do you worry about your future? Do you believe in fate? The audience followed his every word and even paid attention to small details. What did he wear? Did he have a private jet? Did he put his hands in his pockets while speaking? It’s clear that he is not a strange person. He is an outstanding businessman who benefited partly from luck and partly from determination. He is ‘outstanding’ and seemingly beyond reach, but Vietnam has 83 million people and we have many outstanding people too, though perhaps a little less lucky.

Commentary
What we have here, in a word, is irony.

The images of Che Guevara are emblazoned on tee-shirts sported by people who either don't know or don't care to know about the millions of other people who lived, suffered, and died under the banner of the Socialism. Meanwhile the heirs to the "legacy of the socialist past" are now clamoring for a "strong knowedge-based economy".

Many who claim to be concerned first and foremost with the needs of oppressed peoples everywhere wear the images and emblems of oppressors while the world's richest man is one of its more generous and pragmatic philanthropists.

Socially-concious, left-coast roasters sell "End the Embargo" coffee over the internet while citizens of a real Socialist Republic roll out the red carpet for the world's richest man and most successful high-tech entrepreneur.

The sons of the ones who fought to push the US out of Vietnam are now enthusiastically welcoming and unabashedly admiring an American who founded his software company on April 4, 1975 - a mere 26 days before the North Vietnamese raised their red flag over Saigon.

See also: Mr. Porter Goes to Tripoli | Commie Chic |

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