COLUMBIA COVERAGE

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Yes, it does seem, as your Mr. Glassman would have it, that the Columbia protestors are getting poor press coverage, and in the certitude of his position he becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. CBS News certainly did cover the affair on the night of May 1, and their extended newsreel showed just how sorry a situation there be: arguments obviously intended to go nowhere between righteous long-haired demonstrators and somewhat more self-consciously righteous short-haired jocks, with one beleaguered cop for good measure, pointing out in his New York accent that "when you tell someone ta move, he's sposta move." Perhaps Mr. Glassman missed this CBS coverage while he was watching NBC; perhaps it was while watching CBS that he missed NBC, if they did give coverage; or perhaps, like so many of us, he missed the whole thing in transit. At any rate, his erroneous reporting of the erroneous reporting reminds me vaguely of Bertrand Russell's observation that, in a democracy, at least one knows the leaders can never be more stupid than the people because, in so far as the leaders are stupid, the people are stupider for having elected them. Walter Cronkite for philosopher-king. Robert Somerby '69