Left Still Trying to Canonize Corrie
Charles Johnson
Fri Mar 17, 2006 at 3:55 pm PST • Views: 363
Here we go again with another attempted hagiography of Rachel Corrie (lgf: search), the International Solidarity Movement member killed by an Israeli bulldozer, at the Seattle PI of course: Rachel’s story needs to be told, now. (Hat tip: LGF readers.) They never stop trying to turn her into an American martyr for the Palestinian cause.
If there were poetic justice, if Hollywood or the publishing industry had true courage, the story of Rachel Corrie would be coming to a big screen or bookstore near you.
For now, the streets of Seattle will have to do. Tonight marks the third anniversary of the day Rachel died. A public reading of her mature writings will be held at 5 p.m. at Westlake Plaza.
Rachel was in the Middle East, trying to protect the home of a Palestinian from immoral demolition, when an Israeli soldier driving a Caterpillar bulldozer killed her. He ran her over.Maybe the young student from The Evergreen State College was a tad naive, a puppet of left-leaning loonies with the International Solidarity Movement. Some people think this. Maybe she was prescient beyond her 23 years, recognizing that her white skin and U.S. passport could bring vital attention to ignored people in subhuman and desperate conditions. Some think that.
Whichever the case, too many people are reflexively afraid of Rachel’s message, of what her short life and brutal death means.
The issue has gotten to the point that what passes for dialogue is either polemical shouting — or, worse, a campaign to silence the legacy of the young woman who addressed human suffering with fiery grace. Rachel cared about ordinary people outside of her comfort zone — enough to get off the couch and do something.
Of course, one of the things Rachel did with such fiery grace after getting off that comfy couch was to instruct Palestinian children how to set fire to an American flag. (But you won’t find this fiery scene immortalized in poetry readings and plays…)
Frank says: