This was so ironic that Cameron had this bag. I live in a much smaller town than L.A., and happened to be in our downtown last month and a very chic boutique, in the front display window, was a selection of silk camis in the $400 range and throughout the display were Mao emblazoned canvas bags a la Diaz. At the time I was with my husband and remarked at the ridiculous irony of the display and smirked because surely the fashion divas responsible for said display were utterly clueless as to not only the irony of Mao bags alongside $400 camis but of the destructiveness Mao wrought to so many people.

Dana:

Odd, liberals find tyrants and mass murderers cute, friendly and fashionable: Danny Glover has inked a three picture deal with Hugo Chavez, how many pics this year are about that butcher Che, and of course Michael Moore presents that gulag Cuba as an Island paradise.

We won't even go into the history of Hollywood's secret support of Stalin.

I fear that some designers aren't so clueless and they are making bags like these to 1) Ridicule their own customers, (whom they seem to hate a lot of time based on the crap they want them to wear), and/or 2) Annoy people like us, who are too smart to fall for fashion fads they create and tend to be similarly informed about history, etc.

A while back, someone wrote a book titled: "Why Harvard Hates America." I suggest someone should should write: "Why the Fashion Industry Hates You."

I've just read an interesting book on Mao, which I talk a little about here.

(I hope it's okay to post that link.)

Kent:

So glad you did, thanks so much for the great link.

Jake:

Fashion designers may or may not have contempt for their customers, but most of all they count on their customers to spend money for their merchandise. Hence to move their dreck, they manufacture objects they believe will appeal to the chattering classes. Obviously the images and icons of mass murderers appeals to liberals—they adore the Red Star, the Che T-shirt and the Arafat Kaffiyah. Thus progressive fashion.

I had an astronomy professor when I was at Caltech who occasionally wore a Russian-style hat with a red star. I didn't say anything (I wanted my degree) but I found it profoundly disturbing.

I also found it disturbing that his wife (an Irish immigrant) was loudly anticipating finally getting her U.S. citizenship so she could vote against Reagan. Happy about U.S. citizenship == fine by me; the other part got me thinking about the dangers of open immigration of "scholars."

"Odd, liberals find tyrants and mass murderers cute, friendly and fashionable...."

I would choose something other than 'odd' to describe to describe such stupidity and ignorance. Its a shame that those with such a public forum to give voice and influence are so clueless...but even more interesting is how they remain living in the most free nation in the world....always love a little blatant irony.

Kent:

I vote to send your astronomy prof and wife to, y'know, some galaxy, far-far-away. For research purposes, of course.

Dana:

What can I say? I use odd words simply because these people are so beyond the reach of ordinary language.

Er, I have to disagree with you about many of the people you seem to think are horribly evil (Michael Moore?) but I have no love for Mao - in any case, my comment is that perhaps rather than having any fondness for Mao, perhaps Diaz is simply clueless about history - maybe she didn't know that it was a Mao quote.
I seem to see all sorts of people wearing all sorts of pictures and slogans, whom I am pretty sure have no idea what they're wearing, or who those pictures are. They wear them beasue other people are wearing them. Of course, that's an educational problem, but it at least makes her ignorant rather than nasty.

Kol:

Thanks for the comment. I agree with you. Cameron and so many like her (and I know many of them personally) are far from evil. Whereas Moore is evil—he is on record as being anti-Zionist, code for a Jew-hater, and he is a known supporter of Fatah, in fact anyone who's out to destroy Israel.

The sad truth is, most Hollywood liberals are ignorant fashionistas. Many are downright stupid.

But this presents a huge problem in that their ignorance leads them to support causes that are quite evil.

It's much like the western liberals who supported Stalin as he murdered some 30 million people, and then supported Mao as he liquidated 50 million people. They claim that they had good intentions.

Well, isn't that comforting to the dead and the grieving.

Enabling evil is a liberal weakness.

At some point, liberals have a responsibility to stop being ignorant, to learn from their mistakes.

As Lenin said: "Liberals are useful idiots."

P.S. Many actresses I deal with are ignorant and nasty like you wouldn't believe.

"Many are downright stupid"

Cameron Diaz and behavior like hers makes me wonder where all the smart women have gone.

I'm sure she's very kind.
She and so many others, are just so incredibly and painfully uninformed.