The Weathermen had abandoned any appreciation of the absurdity of the way things were. They were ready to sacrifice their whole identities (behind such a laughable shield as the refrains the reporters picked up- "Piggy Wiggy, you better go now, Oink! Oink! Bang! Bang! Dead Pig!") their lives perhaps, for an idea. To newsmen, the very idea of Revolution, wiping away all the evils. is Romantic.

It is with this appreciation of absurdity that a newsman could "stand at the gate of God, drunk but unafraid." He could be confident in the continued existence of an everabsurd reality in which something is always happening and everything is essentially unchanging. He could take comfort in the fact that men would continue to stumble through with a combination of stupidity and evil intentions, and as a journalist he would always be able to write about the resulting villains and heroes. The Weathermen were absurd and would not admit it. They were inane.

Precisely because nothing happened at the press conference, because the reporters got nothing. it was the most violent confrontation of the week.

Cynthia Kaye of the Canadian Broadcasting Company asks a question. She has a cigarette holder. false eyelashes, a handbag, heels, red hair, and a beartrap mind.

"Ah, Miss Davis . . . Mr. Harrington of the Illinois Black Panther Party spoke at the Federal Building today and called your movement 'insanity' What is your comment?"

"No comment," says one of the SDS people. Nina Davis continues the statement.

"A brother was shot in the neck . . ."

"Who? What? Where? When?" roar the city reporters' chorus.

"We are not at liberty to reveal . . ." they reply.

Someone else asks. "How do you think the fighting of the Weathermen has measured up to advance build up? You haven't hurt many police, many of your people have been captured, the damage you have inflicted is rather minor . . ."

"You gotta dig say, life. like war, where's the middle ground? You dig, man? You paid $11 for a front row seat. and you want your money's worth. In a war there's only two sides, there aren't any spectators. If you don't like the way we're fighting. why don't you join us?"

Someone asks. "War? You've spoken of many grandiose plans this week and they've started to fall flat. Your plans are changing, so you tell us. What are your present plans?"

"Hide and watch.

"There's a revolution going on in the world, if you look, you can't miss it. There are 200 million people in the U.S.A. and they're only a tiny speck before the specter of world revolution. The NLF . . ."

"Why this press conference?" someone asks.