I don't think there was anything sadistic about it.
And she was more than an ideological dope. She was a perfect example of how to waste a perfectly good human life -- her own.
Not only did she accomplish absolutely nothing with her extraordinary stupidity, but she has people laughing about her all over the world, bringing shame to herself and her family. And that's something that rarely happens when a person dies for a cause, no matter how disagreeable that cause may be.
In my opinion, she wins the 2003 Darwin Awards, hands down.
It's a shame that Rachel Corrie died the way she did. It's shameful that she lived the way she did.