The Olympics are fast approaching and I’m sure someone will bring up Muhammad Ali and what a great boxer he was and what a great American hero he is. Every time I hear this it makes me yell at the TV screen.
Muhammad Ali was a great boxer but he is not a great American. He is a draft dodger. When he found out he was going to be drafted, he fled the country, became a Muslim, changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali and declared himself to be a conscientious objector. His web site will tell you that he was a Muslim before receiving his draft notice - that may or may not be true – all I know is that the general public was not aware of it if that is the truth. By the general public I mean those who followed boxing at that time, which was everyone in my house. We got our first TV so Dad could watch boxing, Friday Night at the Fights was a ritual in our house.
By definition, a conscientious objector is a person whose conscience does not let him take up arms in warfare. There are a lot of jobs in the military that do not require the taking up of arms. The simple truth is that this man did not want to interrupt his lucrative boxing career to defend his country.
It seems a little strange to me that someone that makes his living using his fists to beat another man senseless can object to anything involving violence.
There were many other conscientious objectors at that time and I respect their right to believe as they wish – but – they, along with Muhammad Ali are not great Americans. They are, and always will be, draft dodgers.
3 comments:
Can't go with you on this one SM.
As best as I remember, Ali changed his name and converted some time before he declined to be drafted. Rather than spend a couple of years in the military with little chance of seeing combat, he was stripped of his license to box for three years, not a wise plan if his reason for refusing induction was to make money.
He didn't flee the country, he fought a couple of times in Canada and Europe, returning to be tried on the charge of failing to report for service.
As to conscientious objection, it is broader than refusal to fight. It is better defined as a refusal to participate in the entire endeavor of war.
Finally, willingness to fight in a war you find immoral is not to my mind the test of being a great American. Ali followed his conscience, right or wrong, suffered the consequences, and returned to being the "Greatest," continuing his Horatio Algeresque life. Not a bad American.
We still friends?
Dave - I respect your point of view and of course we are still friends. I really appreciate all your comments.
Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? - Ali
Icame across this blog while researching info on Ali. Sonja's is totally judgemental and out of line with her comment..Im sure she'll figure that out after reading her friends' responses.
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