# Discussion of Ali being racist \[mod title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 4, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549 "2016-06-04T19:45:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Commodore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Commodore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commodore)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/181 "2016-06-12T00:13:03Z")
> [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](#): > > Possibly because Jews didn’t import and enslave Ali’s “people” and then grant them “freedom” only to continue the oppression in more or - more often - less polite ways. > > Possibly because Jews have faced the same and worse for a millennia or three. > > Possibly because they’re both kosher. Anyone who rejects Jesus Christ is enslaved end of story. I understand where Ail is coming from with his rants, to say they are racist stance, well who cares if they are, if it happens that what he is saying is true and I support his right to say what ever he did say regardless. Fighting against oppression is not a sin. Political Correctness is oppression as it works to enslave all under Satan’s powers, it’s ungodly and the works of Communist. When people fear to speak there mind that’s oppression, Ail could speak his mind freely back then, nowadays could he of had the freedom to come out with what he said ? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/182 "2016-06-12T01:32:46Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > Political Correctness is oppression as it works to enslave all under Satan’s powers, it’s ungodly and the works of Communist. I agree. I should be able to wish people “Happy Holidays” or any other yule greeting I want without the politically correct bullies getting outraged just because I didn’t say “Merry Christmas”. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/183 "2016-06-12T02:03:50Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > Anyone who rejects Jesus Christ is enslaved end of story … [snip] My, aren’t we helpful … ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/184 "2016-06-12T03:38:27Z")
Giraffes Can’t Dance, you don’t happen to write for the [Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2016/06/07/civil-rights-champion-muhammad-ali-was-anything-but/En45jgnZU2ukPf7GA0IgrL/story.html), do you? > [@](#): > > As a champion in the ring, Ali may have been without equal. But when his idolizers go beyond boxing and sports, exalting him as a champion of civil rights and tolerance, they spout pernicious nonsense… > > It is true that in his later years, Ali lent his name and prestige to altruistic activities and worthy public appeals. By then he was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, a cruel affliction that robbed him of his mental and physical keenness and increasingly forced him to rely on aides to make decisions on his behalf. > > But when Ali was in his prime, the uninhibited “king of the world,” he was no expounder of brotherhood and racial broad-mindedness. On the contrary, he was an unabashed bigot and racial separatist and wasn’t shy about saying so. I’m not saying I agree (I thought Irishman’s post deserved applause), but I appreciate the discussion. I love Ali because he was outspoken and brash. I admire Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, too. They preached self-sufficiency in a society that denied them basic dignity, and I don’t fault them for that. As a white person, I’m disappointed that they might have shunned my desire to help, but I respect their attitude. I am also happy to see that Ali softened his stance over the years, because I think that society has made a lot of improvement in its treatment of people since the 1960s and 1970s. [QUOTE=Commodore] Anyone who rejects Jesus Christ is enslaved end of story. [/QUOTE] Hahaha! Thanks…I needed a good laugh before bed! > [@](#): > > When people fear to speak there mind that’s oppression, Ail could speak his mind freely back then, nowadays could he of had the freedom to come out with what he said ? It’s “their”, not “there”. And it should be “have had”, not “of had”, sweety. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/185 "2016-06-12T05:59:43Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I agree. I should be able to wish people “Happy Holidays” or any other yule greeting I want without the politically correct bullies getting outraged just because I didn’t say “Merry Christmas”. And I should be able to wish people “Merry Christmas” without them scowling at me for not being inclusive of every other religion under the sun and/or for assuming they celebrate a Christian holiday here in this country where an overwhelming percentage of people celebrate it. Now having said that, what you’re talking about isn’t political correctness but a reaction to it. Nice try at pretending those on the other side are the ones who are the politically correct bullies though. Time and again recently I’ve seen you adopt this tactic of pretending the other side is doing what you’ve been accused of doing, and it neither persuades nor fools anyone. Just FYI. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/186 "2016-06-12T12:37:18Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > Anyone who rejects Jesus Christ is enslaved end of story. > > I understand where Ail is coming from with his rants, to say they are racist stance, well who cares if they are, if it happens that what he is saying is true and I support his right to say what ever he did say regardless. > > Fighting against oppression is not a sin. > > Political Correctness is oppression as it works to enslave all under Satan’s powers, it’s ungodly and the works of Communist. > > When people fear to speak there mind that’s oppression, Ail could speak his mind freely back then, nowadays could he of had the freedom to come out with what he said ? Talking in tongues, are you? > [@](#): > > **1 Corinthians 14:27-28** > If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. > But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. In the spirit of (ex)Christian fellowship, allow me to interpret for you. “Hi. I’m a fanatical tool who thinks that political correctness is a greater sin than racism. Or maybe I’m just a lazy troll. But how would you know unless you have the light of Christ in your life, _huh_?” God bless you. (But not really.) ---
**Author:** ![Giraffes\_Can\_t\_Dance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Giraffes\_Can\_t\_Dance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffes_Can_t_Dance)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/187 "2016-06-12T14:13:47Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Giraffes Can’t Dance writes: > > \> But most people are not considered heroes, to be worshipped upon their death. > \> Attaching heroism to a blatant racist is troubling. > > Who here is worshipping him? He’s a flawed human being. So are we all. Lots of racists were also heroes in other ways. Again, it’s possible to have one virtue without having another virtue. If such reverence and farewell was reserved for Ali the boxer, I would understand. After all, Ali was one of the greatest boxers to step foot in a ring. But much of the praise being thrust upon Ali, is in regards to who Ali was as a person. Not only is it dangerous to deem such a racist a “good man” and a “hero”, it gravely perverts the reality of who Ali was. Revisionist history, with an agenda. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffes\_Can\_t\_Dance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Giraffes\_Can\_t\_Dance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffes_Can_t_Dance)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/188 "2016-06-12T14:17:16Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > You and I and others know that there’s a certain sort who just can’t stomach a black man being describe in favorable terms… or at least not without qualification. Lots of qualification. Unable to construct an intelligent rebuttal, these two race perverts desperately resort to the race card. Such is the strategy of leftists. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffes\_Can\_t\_Dance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Giraffes\_Can\_t\_Dance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffes_Can_t_Dance)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/189 "2016-06-12T14:20:01Z")
Ali never disavowed his collaborations with the KKK, nor his mentor, Elijah Muhammad. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/190 "2016-06-12T15:28:28Z")
And you’re saying that that makes him such an utterly evil person that everyone should have spit in his grave rather than talking about the good things he did? ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/191 "2016-06-12T15:51:04Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > First off, [Mohammed](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/muhammad-alis-new-fight-literacy/) Ali had [dyslexia](http://athome.readinghorizons.com/research/dyslexia/muhammad-ali), which was [undiagnosed](http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/success-stories/muhammad-ali) when he took that test (and when he was in high school). > > Ergo, his low class ranking and score on an IQ test are irrelevant and faulty measures of his true intelligence, even if there were no other reasons, which there were. > > As for [disavowing](https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali) his earlier opinions… > > [And probably most directly addressing your complaint](http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/civil-rights-movement/essays/importance-muhammad-ali): > > That’s his disavowal of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. That is his direct statement that his views had changed and he no longer agreed with the message of Louis Farrakhan, the views he previously advocated. Close the thread. Asked and answered all in one post. Resolved: Ali grew up and disavowed any past racist leaning tendencies. Any other BS tap dancing that he didn’t was owned and spanked right here by **Irishman**. Good job on ya for doing the work that GCD was too scared to do. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/192 "2016-06-12T23:29:34Z")
> [@Giraffes\_Can\_t\_Dance](#): > > Unable to construct an intelligent rebuttal, these two race perverts desperately resort to the race card. :dubious: Did you just call me a “race pervert”? What the FUCK is that? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/193 "2016-06-13T03:36:02Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > :dubious: > > Did you just call me a “race pervert”? What the FUCK is that? How surprised would you be to find out it’s some kind of racist term used to describe a protagonist in a novel titled [The Sellout](https://www.amazon.com/Sellout-Novel-Paul-Beatty/dp/1250083257/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465788783&sr=1-1&keywords=the+sellout)? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/194 "2016-06-13T05:24:12Z")
Raise your hand if you’ve evever witnessed anyone get pissed off about saying Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays at anyone? (That’s like, the very definition of “First World Problems”) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/195 "2016-06-13T09:29:02Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > Anyone who rejects Jesus Christ is enslaved end of story. I’m not a Christian. I’m agnostic. Would you kindly explain how I am enslaved? While I don’t categorically deny the existence of God or Jesus, I haven’t accepted them, either. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/196 "2016-06-13T09:47:25Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Raise your hand if you’ve evever witnessed anyone get pissed off about saying Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays at anyone? > > (That’s like, the very definition of “First World Problems”) I work retail. I get it every December. I wouldn’t call it common, but it does happen. If someone is buying a ton of Christmas stuff, especially the more overtly Christian stuff, I’ll tell them “Merry Christmas” If they’re buying a bunch of dreidels and candles I’ll say “Happy Chanukah”. If they’re wearing a hijab it’s “have a nice day” If they’re festooned with pentagrams and buying a tree it’s “have a great Yule” If I’m not sure it’s Happy Holidays and fuck anyone who has a problem with me not making assumptions. You’re correct, it’s a First World Problem. Guess what, I live in the First World and First World retail is full of people with FWP’s. Yeah, that came off a bit snarky, but since at work I have to bite my tongue, this is where I can safely complain about it. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/197 "2016-06-13T09:49:43Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > How surprised would you be to find out it’s some kind of racist term used to describe a protagonist in a novel titled [The Sellout](https://www.amazon.com/Sellout-Novel-Paul-Beatty/dp/1250083257/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465788783&sr=1-1&keywords=the+sellout)? Not very, I’m just trying to figure out if I’ve been insulted, if so how exactly, and if the epithet even fits. (Does this ethnic slur make my butt look fat? I’m not sure it fits…) ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/198 "2016-06-13T10:38:29Z")
Jesus, when did this board turn into a Stormfront meet-n-greet ? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/199 "2016-06-13T10:41:42Z")
The _entire_ board isn’t like that, there are still puppy and kitten threads, but some events just bring out the crazies and bigots. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549/200 "2016-06-13T13:02:22Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I’m not a Christian. I’m agnostic. Would you kindly explain how I am enslaved? While I don’t categorically deny the existence of God or Jesus, I haven’t accepted them, either. Sure, I take a shot at this … you are enslaved by worldly pleasures … like a roof over your head, food in your kids’ bellies, that dollar bill in your wallet. The only way to achieve True Enlightenment is a lifestyle of celibacy, poverty and meditation. Only then will we perceive His Holiness and it’s “their”, not “there”. And it should be “have had”, not “of had”, sweety. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-of-ali-being-racist-mod-title/756549.md?page=11)