hypocrite

Well, I don't see how hypocrisy comes into play with your characterization of Ali, but in regard to the other "points" you've made:

"The only reason he became a muslim was that he could then carry on womanising to his heart's content."

Although I doubt very much if he joined the NOI for the express purpose of committing adultery, I do freely admit that he was a philanderer. But so too were most other pro superstar athletes--Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson (and Leonard), Shaquille O'Neal, and of course Tiger Woods, just to name some. However, if you found yourself in a situation where you had every hot woman imaginable throwing themselves at you everywhere you went (and assuming you're heterosexual), I would doubt it very seriously if you would be a monogamist animal yourself. Comedian Chris Rock put it best when he said, "A man is only as faithful as his options." When you're a sports celebrity like Ali, who was after all arguably the world's most famous human being at the time, you had more than your fair share. But the reality is that this is the norm for rich celebrity men.

"He was unpatriotic in America's time of need in Vietnam. He could have gone to Vietnam, and then said something along the lines of how proud he was to serve his country and that his country should respect the ethnic population more."

Why should he, or other black American men for that matter, be patriotic to the U.S when at that time America had a long-standing history of oppressing blacks, via slavery and segregation? Why should he and other black men have fought to free Vietnamese when blacks in this country had been long denied freedom themselves? As Ali himself said, "Why would you expect me and other so-called Negroes to drop bombs in southeast Asia when black folk in the South are being bombed on a regular basis?" In 1963, there were firebombings of black churches and schools on a weekly basis in Birmingham, AL. (Some had even coined the southern city "Bombingham.")

Add to that, black men had fought in the past for the U.S. only to return to the U.S. and be denied freedom. Jackie Robinson had served in WWII, yet we all know of the degradation he faced by white sports fans and teammates when he broke the color barrier in baseball. And Medgar Evers also served in WWII, but when he returned to fight for his own freedom here in this country, as well as the freedom of other blacks in Mississippi, what consequence did he face? He was gunned down in the driveway of his home and murdered. Did these black men "garner a far more sympathetic response" for their military service and patriotism to this country? I think not.

"Remember the 1968 olympics and the black power salute. They all ran for their country and then made a statement. Far far better that way."

Yes, and John Carlos and Tommie Smith paid dearly for that statement. Avery Brundage (racist president of the IOC) immediately expelled both of them from Olympic competition, and thereafter, and for most of their lives, they were both blacklisted in the U.S. and denied opportunities to make a decent living. The idea of Ali joining the U.S. military to "make a statement" would have been stupid and counterproductive.

you are a moron

How many white American world boxing champions went to Vietnam?

Its that man again!!

Even Ali has acknowledged his flaws and womanising even when he was world champion.

Its that man again!!

"He was unpatriotic in America's time of need in Vietnam."

And what about his country's DUTY toward him and his people?

Social contracts are a two way street. the country is not a God to whom you better sacrifice everything and endure everything from. A country is like an employer: it has obligations toward its citizens, and it CAN fail them too.

He had every right to flip the finger at a WHITE establishment that expected him to go slave over in Vietnam for interests not his own.

Thank you for discrediting yourself right away by comparing running in a competetion to killing people in a war. He did the right thing, showing he's a MAN and not a SHEEP like you.

welshNick,

You say that we should "take a closer look" at Muhammad Ali. Frankly, I do not believe that you have looked closely enough. You (and everyone else who has commented on this thread, it seems) have completely discounted the events of the summer of 1960.

Ali did not have to prove his patriotism during the Vietnam War. He had already proved it. He had already literally fought for America in Rome, Italy, during the 1960 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal by defeating a boxer from Poland, which was then a communist country.

When Ali (then still Cassius Clay) returned to Louisville, KY, he was determined to use his new-found celebrity to help his fellow blacks in America fight racism. But it didn't work. He went to a diner in his hometown, while wearing the Olympic gold medal he had won days before and carrying a key to the city that he had received from the mayor of Louisville, and was still refused service in that diner because he was black.

That experience in conjunction with his religious beliefs made him not want to participate in the Vietnam War in any capacity. Plus, the first time he was tested, he was deemed ineligible to be drafted because his poor spelling and writing skills. It was only after the US draft board lowered its standards that he was considered eligible to be drafted. He put in an application as a conscientious objector but the government, wanting to make an example of him, rejected his application without stating why. But Ali never ran away from America and he never hid. He made his formal objections to being drafted legally and by the book. The US government, on the other hand, in its haste to use him to discourage black militants and any other objectors to the Vietnam War, did not completely follow the law and thus, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Ali's favor.

Why fight for a country that kills your people and treats them like dirt?