Muhammad Ali & what the media didn’t say

If I was to write about my favorite subjects, Astrophysics & Nature would be at the top of the list. Nature has always puzzled me. It’s power so mind-boggling yet on this planet at least, it all but appears to be merely an ethereal bystander. It may well be responsible for all life-forms, both plant & animal life but once it struts its stuff, everyone & everything can get on with it. Nature doesn’t care, even if we destroy ourselves! In a way it’s so frustrating – I’m living in a world full of beauty, incredible creatures, good & great people, yet the space & time in which I’m living in, sickens me no end.
Then there’s sport which I know only too well today serves as a major distraction but this is only because we have such unbelievably short-sighted, selfish people calling the shots. I guarantee, in a fair & just world, sport would be universally looked upon in the light it deserves – the world’s best athletes competing for recognition & for the love of their sport, while the public & adoring fans put their feet up to be entertained. Sure, the best team doesn’t always win & cheating aside, the one thing I love & appreciate about sport is invariably the cream rises to the top. I cannot think of any field or industry where this rule applies more.

 

Normally, I don’t have time to comment on tags. I have a devil’s own job simply acknowledging most of them. On May 14 Edward Mauldin  tagged me. He asked if I thought Cassius Clay was even better than Jack Johnson. Since I used to go to all the fights at Wembley & the Albert Hall & since I enjoyed participating in boxing training, it was a sport I particularly loved. So I spent a good few hours & I put together a piece I was very proud of. I posted it the next day –

 

A 3 part boxing bonanza: Champ Tyson Fury says Jews own all the Banks & are brainwashing people with TV; my take on Cassius Clay & a chance meeting with Colin Hart, UK’s foremost expert on boxing

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18 days later, the great man was dead. Having just written the piece above, I thought leave it to others. I’d only be repeating most of what I said. Why not wait till the dust settles & see what others say? Well I did so & I feel I’ve learned something as a result. As we all know there was probably no bigger name – Ali ranked with the JFK’s & the Lady Di’s of this world yet only now I realise the true extent of how media scumbags did one hell of a number on him. No secret was made of the fact he converted to Islam but I had no idea he tried to do so much for the Palestinians. This goes to show how much has changed since the advent of the Internet. Apparently Ali had been there several times but typical of the skulduggerous Zionists, these visits received no publicity.

 

ALI

 

Editor of Veterans Today the great Dr Kevin Barrett couldn’t have put it better when he said – 

“The mainstream media doesn’t want you to know one important thing about Muhammad Ali: His all-out, unreserved support for the liberation struggle of the Palestinian people against Zionist genocide.”

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/06/06/ali-palestine/

The greatest

Here once again we see the power of the media – what they don’t report is not news. Therefore they effectively decide what ‘the news’ is! Small wonder mankind is in such a diabolical predicament. Bad enough this is the case but the truth is – WE COULDN’T POSSIBLY HAVE WORSE PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF THE MEDIA!

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When Ali refused to be drafted in 1967, he was stripped of his title as World Heavyweight champion & banned from boxing. If ever there was a case highlighting how the media is owned by warmongers, here it is. It may not have been obvious as a mere 11 year old but now it’s plain as day – Ali had become a massive headache for here was the last guy in the world the media could accuse of cowardice. Ali was prepared to stand up & be counted so the US media proceeded to paint a terribly skewed & one-sided picture of him & back then, a lot of the mud stuck! What’s interesting here is eventually Ali won almost everyone over, so to those who inexplicably still believe the media is a bastion of news, never forget how they tried to make you feel about this great man.
On June 4 Tony Whitcomb tagged me. Here was Ali’s reaction to war & the fact the supposed ‘home of the brave & the land of the free’ was ordering him to kill people in a far off land who’d done nothing to him or indeed America. I liked it so much I thought a simple copy & paste would suffice. 

 

Fighter against war

 

Ali saw the war in Vietnam as an exercise in genocide so he used his platform as the “Heavy Weight Boxing Champion Of The World” to connect the war abroad with the war at home, by saying:
“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand 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?
No, I am not going ten thousand miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end.
I have been warned that to take such a stand would put my prestige in jeopardy and could cause me to lose millions of dollars which should accrue to me as the champion. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is right here.
I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality… 
If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to twenty-two million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow.
But I either have to obey the laws of the land or the laws of Allah. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail. We’ve been in jail for 400 hundred years.”
– Muhammad Ali, April 28, 1967
On June 20, 1967, Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston, Texas for refusing induction in the U.S. armed forces.

 

No Draft-Dodger

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On June 10 I received this truly fascinating account from Brian Becker of Answer Coalition. This is what really happened when Ali went to Iraq in the 1990’s. Becker should know because he helped organise the trip which incidentally the US government opposed. He was with Ali in Iraq & he says the media utilised every trick in the book in order that Ali’s trip served as a propaganda coup. The truth was, both the US administration & the media were pleased Saddam took hostages for it played perfectly into the hands of the warmongers. As I said this makes great reading. How many people know this – 

“Anyone who opposed a war with Iraq was labeled as either an apologist for the hostage-taking Saddam or as a half-wit. Ali was treated as both by the government and the media. 

Ali is cited now as a hero for having rescued the U.S. hostages but he and our delegation were treated with scorn and contempt at the time.”

http://www.answercoalition.org/i_was_with_muhammad_ali_on_his_hostage_release_trip_to_iraq_and_the_media_has_it_all_wrong?utm_campaign=ali_in_iraq&utm_medium=email&utm_source=answercoalition

Ali's released hostages

Muhammad Ali: Don’t let them bury his real legacy!

Here also is Brian Becker talking about Ali on his radio show. If you want the whole truth…….
http://www.spreaker.com/user/radiosputnik/muhammad-ali-dont-let-them-bury-his-real

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Finally how does one define greatness? Einstein, Newton, Hendrix, Mozart, Beethoven, Welles, Cagney, Bradman – I can go on forever talking about geniuses. Many others make it to the pinnacle of their profession yet the last thing they are is great, so-called superstars like Sting, Madonna, Oasis, David Beckham are just some examples. What I’m trying to say is every person is potentially great at something – the secret is actually finding out what that is. Most of us never do. Therefore being born with a talent & then being able to discover it depends more on luck than anything to do with greatness.

 

So what is greatness? What about aid workers who go off to war-torn nations & disease-ridden regions of the world where starvation & deprivation is rife? Aren’t they amazing people? I couldn’t do that. What about bomb disposal experts? Who’d want to do their job? And to think they receive scant recognition for their bravery & sacrifice. They’re great! And then there’s Laurel & Hardy. You could be totally & utterly down in the dumps but after 5 minutes of watching these guys you’d soon forget your troubles. Now that’s greatness!

 

But there’s another type of greatness & its got nothing to do with talent, fame or special services to the public. This is something altogether different. We often hear the term ‘larger than life’. Well, I’d like to say right now when it comes down to the impact one person could have on the lives of those he touched, Muhammed Ali was an absolute giant. Sure he had phenomenal talent; sure he was a complete one-off but what made him so great was he was a truly wonderful human being. It’s no surprise, therefore, I can’t think of anyone in history who left so many ordinary folk with special memories. That’s greatness!
So since Ali’s passing away I watched most of the tributes & that kind of wet the appetite for whenever I had a spare moment, I watched as many of his interviews as I could. I picked out this incredible segment from one of his interviews with Michael Parkinson & speaking of greatness, who else ever gave such riveting interviews? Today, being forced to watch so-called celebrities being interviewed by the likes of David Letterman & Jonathan Ross honestly, for me at least, would be akin to torture. I’d rather eat gravel for breakfast!
So RIP great man. My little poem to you…..

THERE WILL NEVER, EVER BE….

ANOTHER ALI!

 

 

4 comments

  • B

    Michael,
    Thank you for the article, and especially the video. I now have a new found respect for Ali. I never knew he stood for so much. I will go to look for other video’s of him now.
    Wow, another man that stands up for the truth and defends what is right, even at great personal cost.
    What happened to people like this?
    I believe that is called integrity, and it is nearly non-existant these days.
    Maybe that is what people need to re-discover, how to stand for something in their lives…
    I wont hold my breath, but it does make me ponder, what gives meaning to life if not having something to stand for?
    Peace-

    • Thanks Brad. Even with someone as popular as Ali, a little research revealed how much the media actually keeps from us. Ali could have made a huge difference to the Palestinians had the media not been so under the control of Zionists. He was indeed a great man.

  • Thank you!
    As an empowered single Mom of a brilliant young man i raised and un-schooled – i am with you.
    Right now, i am sending this gem to my 20 year old boy.
    With nary a positive male role model .. to be found .. this shall be added inspiration.
    For both .. of us.
    Gratefully,
    Katherine

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