Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Pop goes the weasel...

http://s1.totalprosports.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/muhammad-ali-with-malcolm-x.jpg

A fascinating article by Eric Fleury -- "Muhammad Ali and the Myth of a Civil Rights Hero" -- popping the balloon of Muhammad Ali who for decades virtually no one would question as a winsomely charismatic pop icon and civil rights champion (aside, of course, from his skillful prowess as a boxer).

So many interesting nuggets in this article, such as:

The Nation of Islam could not have possibly selected a better mouthpiece than the obnoxious young contender Cassius Clay, a name which he would later disavow as his ‘slave name,’ an amusing irony since he was named after a famed abolitionist.  

This inclusion on my blog reminds me of another exposé I published here on another sainted pop icon -- perhaps the gold standard of sainted pop icons -- Gandhi.  If someday in the near future I come across a third (and I can guarantee my readers it won't be Christopher Hitchens' vicious tissues of calumny against Mother Theresa), maybe I'll start a series.

P.S.:  I recently discovered Eric Fleury on the website dedicated to philosopher Eric Voegelin, where it was noted that he will be among the academics giving papers at the 31st annual conference they hold (this time in September, in San Francisco).  His slated paper is titled "Prudence, National Interest and Counter-Terrorism" and I would be interested to learn if he has broken ranks with the largely PC MC tenor of most of his fellow Voegelinians on this issue of the problem of Islam.  (I won't be holding my breath, however; and frankly I would fall off my chair if that turned out to be the case...).

4 comments:

Egghead said...

You should research and write an essay on Ghandi and Islam.

It would be rather enlightening....

The amazing thing is that the info exists to be found, but people insist on keeping their eyes wide shut.

Speaking of which, I read somewhere that the head of Scientology fully supports Islam. I guess it takes one cult to recognize another....

Also, MLK Jr. and Nelson Mandela were far different than portrayed.

Hesperado said...

Yes Egghead, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mandela are other good subjects for an "anti-hagiography". I've read smatterings here and there about Gandhi's dhimmitude regarding Islam, but not enough to piece it together for an essay.

Egghead said...

So I decided to look at Gandhi and Islam again.

There is a great article at faithfreedom.org called 'Gandhi's experiment with Islam and why it failed.' Ironically, it ends with the revelation that black supremacist Muslim Mohammed Ali stated that the 'worst' Muslim was better than the infidel Gandhi - which is particularly amazing given that Gandhi made many loving statements about Islam and Muslims that are easily found in a Google search of 'Gandhi Islam.'

Hesperado said...

ah thanks Egghead, I'll check that article out. After Fleury's article on Muhammad Ali, I'm no longer surprised by the brutish nonsense he spouted...