Grieve for Rachel Corrie's parents, but spare us the hagiography

Jewish World Review ^ | 3-27-03 | Dennis Prager

[Slicksadick]

Rachel Corrie, the Olympia, Wash., college student killed trying to protect a Palestinian house -- a house, remember, not even a human being -- against an Israeli bulldozer, will probably not merit a footnote in history books. That's too bad, because her life and death, the way she has been portrayed in some media, and the reactions of her college are powerful examples of an America with many morally confused individuals.

A Seattle Times columnist described her as a martyr. Her hometown paper, The Olympian, published numerous pictures of a sweet-looking woman from childhood on. It omitted the one photo of Rachel Corrie that USA Today, to its credit, published -- Corrie screaming anti-American invective while burning an American flag in Gaza.

Anyone with a heart must extend the deepest condolences to Rachel Corrie's parents. But anyone with a conscience must regard Rachel Corrie's activities with contempt. One hopes that it is not asking too much of people to entertain simultaneously two conflicting emotions -- grief for the parents and contempt for the daughter.

Rachel Corrie chose to side with a society that breeds some of the cruelest murderers of innocent people in the world. Rachel Corrie gave her life trying to protect people whose declared aim is to annihilate another country. In the name of saving children's lives, Rachel Corrie chose to defend a society that teaches its young children to blow themselves up and which deliberately targets children for death. And Rachel Corrie went to America's enemies to burn her country's flag.

She was one of the many fools our colleges annually produce. Evergreen State College is reputed to excel in such production. Is anyone aware of a single student or faculty member who repudiated her activities?

We are told repeatedly that Rachel was idealistic -- as if that matters. Virtually every person who commits great evil -- the Nazi, the Communist, the Islamic terrorist -- is idealistic. Idealism is morally neutral. It is good only when directed to good ends. But in young people, idealism is at least as likely to lead to bad as to good because few young people are wise -- and idealism without wisdom is very dangerous.

We are told ad nauseam that Rachel Corrie was a "peace activist." So let it be said once and for all that most of these people are moral frauds. Why? Because "peace activists" routinely protest only against peaceful countries. Has there been one Evergreen State or other "peace activist" in Sudan during its Islamic government's slaughter and enslavement of millions of blacks? Are there any "peace activists" in Tibet to protect its unique culture from being eradicated by the Communist Chinese? Did you notice any "peace activists" trying to save the millions of North Koreans dying at the hands of their lunatic government? Of course not. Rachel Corrie and other "peace activists" only target peace-loving Israel and America.

Why do they do so?

Here is one answer.

The world is filled with evil, and young idealists like Rachel Corrie don't like it. Which is lovely. But they don't confront real evil because they know they will get hurt. That's one reason there are no "peace activists" or "human shields" confronting Islamic terror, North Korean totalitarianism, or Chinese Communist despotism.

So, what's an idealist to do if she refuses to confront real evil but wants to feel good about herself? Ironically, confront those who fight real evil. That's why Rachel Corrie and the millions marching to protect Saddam Hussein's Iraq have never uttered a peep against Palestinian terror, Iraqi totalitarianism, or North Korean gulags. Instead, they focus their animosity at the countries that confront these evils -- the United States and Israel.

So, Olympia, grieve for Rachel Corrie's parents, but spare us the hagiography. Rachel Corrie died fighting for the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian group dedicated, in its own words, to "armed struggle" against Israel. She ended up being a useful idiot for, and one more victim of, Palestinian terror.

[Slicksadick]

She was one of the many fools our colleges annually produce..... Prager hits another out of the park.

[yooper]

"She was one of the many fools our colleges annually produce. "

That about says it all. May she rest in peace, but the bottom line is, she was somewhere she shouldn't have been.....

[arly]

hey maybe she will have a "Darwin Award" bestowed upon her.

[ThreePuttinDude]

It's a shame we have to waste time on an idiot like this.
While playing "Chicken" with a D8 Cat, she lost....tough luck you dizzy bitcsh

[lsee]

Main Entry: ha·gi·og·ra·phy Pronunciation: -gE-'ä-gr&-fE, -jE- Function: noun Date: 1821

1 : biography of saints or venerated persons
2 : idealizing or idolizing biography

Very good term and a very good article. I agree totally that idealism isn't a good thing when it springs from wrong-headed thinking!

[Astronaut]

She was a fool, and died a fool's death. Part of the blame lays with the faculty at Evergreen State College, whose Marxist indoctrination led Corrie to Gaza.

However, there are many fools at Evergreen State, but few of them choose to be so extreme as to confront the IDF to save a terrorist's house. Ultimately, Corrie is responsible for her own idiocy. She got what she deserved.

[Henrietta]

"Rachel Corrie, the Olympia, Wash., college student killed trying to protect a Palestinian house -- a house, remember, not even a human being"

A house that was abandoned, no less. What was she thinking, with her stupid passive-aggressive, playing-chicken-with-a-bulldozer tactics? She got what was coming to her; what did she expect?

[Slicksadick]

Thanks for the dictionary listing, I was wondering about that.

[umgud]

Here's my $0.02. Enviro whackos, peace activists, animal rights activists, anti business activists, civil rights activists........ all have a common thread; Socialist leanings, background and socialist support. Most socialists are liberals. And..most socialists are indoctrinated by American academia.

[thoughtomator]

Sorry, my heart-bleeding queue is full at the moment, since I'm caring about the safety of American lives and the freedom of oppressed people the world over right now. So please, spare me the requiem of a spoiled little girl who believed so fervently that she was morally superior to the rest of us that was willing to commit suicide to prove it, and the brain-damaged parents who failed to teach her to become a civilized human being.

[river rat]

Dr. Savage of KSFO - Hot Talk Radio, and now TV... has a term that perfectly describes these feckless imbeciles...

RED DIAPER DOPER BABIES

Children raised by pot smoking 60's socialist/Marxist radicals...

Now their children are paying the price.

Semper Fi

[tinacart]

If we ain't got the guts to pick 'em off over here, I'm glad someone somewhere got this commie off the streets for us :) Go, Israel!!! Israel - 1, Rachel - 0.

[blastdad51]

This girl went to Isreal for a confrontation. She got one and lost. What more needs to be said?

[Slicksadick]

I'm sorry, I thought the writer was clear that this twit deserves exactly what she got.
She ended up being a useful idiot for, and one more victim of, Palestinian terror.

[Straight Vermonter]

Took a little digging but here it is.

[Semper Paratus]

Evergreen State College isn't picky with admissions.
I beleive another one of its students chain locked himself to the Grange building thinking it was a Feferal building, then forget to bring the key.

[Diogenesis]

In Rafah, Gaza, Rachel Corrie,terrorist supporter teaches Palestinian children
to be future terrorists as she teaches them to burn the American flag..

[tubebender]

Main Entry: ha·gi·og·ra·phy Pronunciation

"WILL NOT COMPUTE"...that's what I got when I entered it in my Franklin Languagemaster. ( maybe it needs new batteries)

[Slicksadick]

She was truly an idiot.

[Cicero]

Well, I feel for anyone whose daughter is killed at such a young age. Nevertheless, from what little I have read about them, Rachel Corrie was indeed a red diaper baby, the daughter of a pair of left-wing fanatics who brought their daughter up to hate her country.

Their comments as quoted in the papers were almost entirely political. They seemed more eager to blame Israel than to mourn their daughter's death. It sounded pretty much like Paul Wellstone's funeral to me.