The Only Thing We Have To Fear

IT SOUNDS LIKE something out of a public service ad sponsored by the Poughkeepsie Education Council, but it doesn't make it any less true: The most dangerous thing we face in these days of "terrorists" and creeping national paranoia is ignorance.

Case in point: Last Monday, the Post reported that a couple of recently paroled members of the Weather Underground were here in New York, possibly for the convention, possibly to protest, possibly to make bombs or to offer bomb-making seminars to impressionable youngsters. Whatever their plans, they were certainly up to no good.

We had to roll our eyes at that one, just as we rolled our eyes at the NYPD's jittery press conferences about the "anarchist threat." We know our history, we know a fair share about the Weather Underground. And we know that those members released from prison over the past two years are under very close surveillance. Plus, they're how old now? 58? 65? In any case, they're probably not in much of a mood to end up back in prison for another 20 years.

On the subway the next day, we realized that none of that mattered.

The regular morning crew, as usual, was chatting about the news of the day. The previous night's Olympic results, mostly. Then a woman in her 40s asked, "Hey, you see this story in the Post yesterday?'

"Which one?" an older man asked.

"About these people. They just got out of prison, and they're here in New York."

"Yeah, I saw that. They were terrorists or something, right?"

"Yeah, something like that. I guess they're here to cause trouble at the convention. They were part of some big group, I forget what they were called."

"They just got out of prison?" another regular asked.

"Yeah, I wish I could remember what they were called. But they were pretty bad. Something in the 60s."

"What'd they do?"

"I don't know. They were bad news, though, from what I hear."

"And they're in town?"

"I guess for the convention."

"Now you see?" the older man said, "That's why I'm getting out of the city."

NAKED REPUBLICANS SINGING

AS IT TURNS OUT, not all Republicans are prudes who prefer loincloths to libidinous shots of frontal nudity. As we learned in the New York Times last week, at least a dozen in town for the RNC bought tickets to the risqué, off-Broadway musical Naked Boys Singing. That was before the Republican Party's Committee on Arrangements-the Soviet-sounding commission in charge of the RNC's extracurricular events-removed the show from its list of discounted events.

The show, six years and running, features gay themes, male nudity and men in tights singing and dancing; none of which, according to a Republican spokesperson, "best suits our audience."

Which means we probably won't see many delegates strolling through Chelsea, browsing through any number of downtown stores, or attending anything on Broadway for that matter, given the large number of gay actors on stage. It's unclear if the dozen or so Republicans who already bought their discounted tickets will be reimbursed or, more likely, booted from the Republican Party and sent home early without dessert.