Fences
You may have noticed that I invoked the hallowed (or is it hollow, or is it Hollywood) spirit of Ronald Reagan in my little invocation to Ariel Sharon. Well, let's discuss why.
You'll remember that during the baseball season the White Sox had some incidents with rowdy fans running onto the field, attacking umpires, coaches, players, whomever. A radio personality jokingly suggested that roadblocks be set up to prevent fans from certain areas, such as the southwest suburbs, from coming into the city to attend Sox games.
Let's say that such a plan is implemented, but there are still fans who show up at the park and run on the field, etc. So, Mayor Daley, in all his eloquent wisdom, decides to build a fence around the city to make it more "secure."
The ostensible purpose of the fence is to keep rowdy fans out of the city by forcing everyone from the suburbs to enter the city only through a handful of heavily guarded roads. (For example, closing the Stevenson except for one or two exits, closing 294 to keep people from sneaking in through the far South Side).
People living in North Shore areas start to complain about potentially being cut off from the city where they work, shop, send their kids to school and go to the doctor. So the Mayor extends the fence to include parts of the North Shore (effectively annexing Winnetka and Kenilworth and expanding Chicago's border) while cutting off Bolingbrook, Alsip, etc.
What would happen to those suburbs cut off from the city? What would happen to the people there?
This is a lot like what's happening in Israel.
From: Ha'aretz
Jerusalem's Borders are Being Redrawn
"The [separation] fence will completely change the lives of
more than 100,000 people who live in northeast
Jerusalem.
The fence planners invested a lot of thought and
creativity into drawing a winding line for the
fence that has no urban logic, cutting off the
Arab neighborhoods and the refugee camps from
the center of their lives in Jerusalem.
In effect, the city's municipal boundaries will
change because of the fence..."
If Ronald Reagan were alive today, would he say to Ariel Sharon what he once said to Mikhail Gorbachev?
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