Radical un-chic

Yale Daily News columnist Keith Urbahn decries fashion statements stupidly proclaiming the hipness and ignorance of their wearers: “Radical un-chic.” Mr. Urbahn earns my admiration for the forthrightness of his condemnation:

Marxism was a dark — perhaps the darkest — chapter in human history. Those who still admire the ideology are sullied by the black stain of 85 million deaths. Those who — ignorant of the story behind their beloved leftist icons — sport Che or vintage Communist Party shirts are likewise tainted by tacit approval of unprecedented crimes against humanity.
Displaying a swastika or a poster of the KKK’s Grand Dragon on a dorm wall is considered unacceptable by the standards of modern society, yet somehow, symbols identified with communist mass murder pass the test of political correctness — they’re even “cute” or “kitschy.” But “radical chic” isn’t “cool”; it’s a disgraceful endorsement of humanity’s most appalling atrocities.

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