Rachel Corrie

I guess you must all be more or less aware of the Rachel Corrie story. If not, you should be. Rachel Corrie was a young woman from Olympia, Washington, who decided to travel to Palestine in the interest of peace. She was killed by an Israeli bulldozer while standing in front of a Palestinian house that was about to be razed. Inside the house was a Palestinian family including several children. Their house was being razed because the Israelis wanted to create a buffer zone (not because the family had done anything wrong). Rachel bravely stood in front of the house and faced the bulldozer, indicating that she would not allow the house (and family) to be destroyed. The bulldozer ran over her and then backed up over her.

Rachel Corrie was a very idealistic young woman, beautiful and intelligent. She left a number of diaries and notes that were recently made into a sort of stage play, "My Name is Rachel Corrie." This was produced in London to rave audiences. It was to open in New York today (or maybe yesterday) but was canceled at the last minute. While it is not entirely clear why it was canceled it obviously had something to do with politics. The election of Hamass and the condition of Ariel Sharon were said to have something to do with it - the owners of the theatre said they did not want to get involved with a political problem. The producers are claiming they really wanted to open it but did not have enough time to work out the problems. In short, it is a kind of mess.

The fact is, or at least seems to be, that a number of people or organizations started to demonize Ms. Corrie, claiming, among other things, she was a member of Hamass (a blatant falsehood). What seems to be clear, at least to me, is that Ms. Corrie stood up for the Palestinians rather than the Israelis (an obvious no-no in the United States). She exposed the Israelis for the murderous greedy land-grabbing racists they have turned out to be, and of course this is not to be tolerated in this Israeli-loving "land of the free."

"My Name is Rachel Corrie" will undoubtedly eventually open somewhere in the United States if not in New York. It is said to be an extremely moving experience that has more to do with the problem of violence than with politics per se. It does not pay to be perceived as pro-Palestianian - after all, they're just Arabs.

Pat Robertson is at it again. Commenting on a new book which I gather is entitled "The Professors," he claims that Professors are like termites that have infiltrated the Universities, are "out and out communists," and some of them are "killers." He also claims that they actually beat up students. Doesn't it make you wonder why Robertson has not been committed? This guy is so psychotic, and has been for years, it is virtually impossible to believe he continues to have some kind of following and was, in fact, a candidate for President at one time. How many complete loonies are there in the U.S.? At the moment I guess there are a lot.