University of Virginia Library

Chicago Episode

Besides, Cronkite once radicalized
more people in a few
moments than anybody else has
before or since. At Chicago, in '68,
at the Hilton.

"Chicago is a Police State!" The
pictures did the rest, which was
plenty.

And you SAW it. And you
KNOW it's true.

Raised on pictures, we may be
the first generation of verbal cynics.
Soap commercials have taught us all
we need to know about bullshit. We
chuckle, in our sophistication, at
those whose revolutionary dedication
eclipses rhetorical consciousness.
This has to do with believing
intensely in their rhetoric and
generally makes them one hundred
per cent useless as revolutionary
organizers. There was an interestingly
extreme example of this when
the Patriot Party came to town a
few months back.

* * * * * * * *

A bunch of people are sitting
around passing a joint in a more or
less well-frequented quasi-revolutionary
hangout (in a small back
room). In walks a big blond chick
with "Free Huey" buttons on. She
towers over the group silently for a
moment, almost unnoticed.