European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 22, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday july 22, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 Disney Haymarket a. A in a churchyard Here a Gravestone reads Stonewall Jackson Campbell May 2, 1863 dec. 10,1911 the infant Campbell was named for the virginian who earned his name on a Battlefield a few minutes Gallop from the churchyard a Soldier who on May 2, 1863, received a mortal wound at Chancellorsville not far from Here. Problem is much of american history was made not far from Here often by men who lived nearby the Church is hard by the intersection of the James Madison and John Marshall highways. Just Over yonder lives miss Beauregard great granddaughter of the Confederate general. And so it goes. You can hardly turn around out Here without bumping into evocations of the nations making. This would be merely Nice not a problem were it not for something that threatens to be the unmaking of this area the Walt Disney co. Seems determined almost irrationally so to turn this area inside out and upside Down by building about a half mile from the churchyard and 3.5 Miles from the Manassas Field where Jackson fought a huge commercial and residential real estate development at the Core of which will be an american history theme Park. Ally transform beyond recognition an area ably americans most defining landscape. George f. Will May get it is that Disney has decided to that would radically that is Argual America has various defining landscapes not All of them bucolic. One is Manhattan a forever unfinished Skyline emblematic of our heroic materialism. But none is More drenched in the history of heroic idealism than Virginia a Piedmont Region a perishable window on the past a place that were Jefferson and Washington and Lee to revisit it would be comfortably familiar to them. Some of Disney a critics would if they could freeze this Region in time. They cannot. Development will come to this place because it is a Short drive from Washington and the government that will not Stop growing. But Disney a Mega development by its scale and nature would change beyond recognition a historic Region Rich in Sites that millions of americans come to As pilgrims to shrines of our civil religion. Some of Disney a critics get the Vapours at the thought of what the theme Park might do to the telling of americans Story. But if Disney or anyone else wants to make a skit or a hash of history Well the right to Vul Arize is one of americans most vigorously exercised rights. Anyway Disney would be hard pressed to do worse than say Oliver stones movies a or for that matter some historians including some of Disney a academic despises. Disney has armed its despises by talking foolishly As when chairman Michael Eisner said a i was dragged to Washington As a kid and it was the worst weekend of my life or when a Disney a creative directory said the Park would a make you feel what it was like to be a see your sister sold Down the River then get Cotton Candy however again the Point is not what Disney wants to do but where it wants to do it. The administration of environmental transportation and other Federal state and local regulations provides Many opportunities for Disney s opponents to slow the projects Progress and raise its costs. In any such Battle of attrition bet on the Multi Bil lion Dollar corporation that buys lawyers by the battalions. But Why docs Eisner seem Bent on becoming the archetype of the Hollywood bulgarian greasing with Money some of it to politicians the slide of a great corporation into the role of coarse bully stamping its footprints on hallowed places one of the roads that would have to become an enlarged congested Highway to serve the Park is route 15,. Which runs North to Gettysburg. There one of the Berkeley boys now buried in the churchyard Here was captured at the Crest of Pickett a charge at the Wall on cemetery Ridge now known As a the High water Mark of the from there Leeds army beat an honorable Retreat. It is astonishing that Disney out of sheer stub bom Ness is risking its reputation As a Good corporate citizen and is doing so to put Here a project that could be put in Many More suitable places. But it is not too late for Disney to learn a lesson from Lee who is revered by the nation he tried to dismember revered partly because he knew How to Retreat and when to surrender. A. A a a c Washington Post no the Gay party line the a Gay games in new York City gave the big Media another Opportunity to continue their own game of assisting the Gay rights movement in portraying homosexual conduct As Normal Ana anyone who opposes its political Agenda As abnormal. No member of the big Media has promoted the Gay Agenda More resolutely than the new York times which on this subject has crossed the line dividing reporting from advocacy. From its opinion pages to its arts and Leisure Section to its business pages and front Page the times with increasing frequency publishes laudatory stories advancing the Gay rights cause. Those who believe that the Gay lifestyle is a Choice and a wrong on and that the homosexual political Agenda is counterproductive to the general welfare Are stereotyped by big Media such As the times As unreconstructed homophobes and fundamentalist fanatics. The Public broadcasting system went a step further. Last month the taxpayer subsidized network broadcast a piece of propaganda called a one nation under it was an 83-minute pro Gay a a documentary produced by two homosexual film makers critical of the sex Gay movement and those who believe that it is possible to exit the Gay life. The film focused on two men Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper who founded exodus International a Christian ministry to homosexuals who wish to change. Two years after founding exodus Bussee and Cooper quit the organization left their wives and children and became lovers. Cooper died of aids shortly after the film was finished. A Usa today a review Quot of the film charged that those engaged in efforts to help homosexuals change engage in a brainwashing the film compared their methods to electroshock therapy and demonic exorcism. The current director of exodus Bob Davies called the film a obviously Cal Thomas he says to one asked such hard questions As How the two justified adultery in Light of their supposed Christian beliefs How did their wives and children react to their Choice to pursue homosexuality and How did Cooper get aids when the two claim to have had a monogamous relationship since 1978 when they began having sex it is important for the Gay rights movement to squelch any evidence that homosexuals can change because their political goals Are predicated on getting sufficient numbers of people to believe they cannot. When confronted with those who have changed Gay rights advocates contend they Are fooling themselves or that they were never truly homosexual. If they Ever admit that homosexuals can become celibate or heterosexual their movement is finished. Bob Davies acknowledges it is difficult to change and that every recovery group has successes and failures. A the fact that Bussee and Cooper deserted their heterosexual marriages a he says a does not invalidate the testimony of hundreds of former homosexual men and lesbians who have achieved satisfying marital exodus claims that thousands of men and women have overcome homosexuality in both identity and practice and that evidence Davies says a destroys the whole foundation of the modern pro Gay movement Quot whose leaders often promote the a born Gay Quot theory. Davies says exodus ministries worldwide has received More than 100,000 requests for help and information since 1976 from people in North America Europe and the South Pacific. There Are Large numbers of people who Are unhappy with their homosexuality and want to change he says. The truly intolerant ones Are those who want tolerance for themselves but demonstrate none for others such As exodus which is trying to help people who want done to look for their Story to be told on pcs or in the new York times or on any of those award shows where the uniform dress code of red ribbons indicate the ranks have been closed to anything but the party line. C los Angeles times i i f p
