The Cult Of Personality and Modern Day Idol Worship.
What Does Lady Gaga, Obama, Trump, Beyoncé, LeBron James and Jay-Z Have in Common?
Humanity in the modern age, treat celebrities like their predecessors of the old days treated their gods. It seems that human beings have to have something to idolize, look up to, admire, wish to be like or live their lives for.
Celebrities are the new age obsession of modern man, who once built altars and brought offerings to their gods, the modern day devotee (fan) now does the same, purchasing their pictures, videos, music in a frenzied state of wanting to be next to them, if only through a conduit.
The Modern day Priest is the peddler of these New Age Celebrities Gods. They
pose as media moguls, press agents, producers and distributors of the mania that consumes the fans. These modern day idolaters scream, dance, sweat and cry over the “gods” they chose and keep their gods amply supplied with all the modern conveniences, and sometimes so modern, their “gods” can live in full furnished multi-million dollar homes.
Like any religion, the worshipers keep the Gods and their Mediators in power as the devotee depletes his resources just for one more favor or act of kindness towards them. These acts of kindness maybe inclusive of but not exclusive of, autographs, pictures, handshakes, special tokens and VIP seating at a gala affair.
When the devotee sees, reads or experiences the lives of their gods, they are energized living through their imagined world, or lack there of. They are excited by the challenges, the scandals, the lies, the deceit that shrouds their gods, because in order for their god to exist in the world of Celebrities they must face these and many other obstacles of success and/or failure. The Modern day devotee(fan) takes the life of the Celebrity in full scale of it’s own life, moving and progressing along as the God would demand of them. Dare they fall in the disfavor of their Gods or other devotees find them trifling.
Some devotees become so obsessed they will kill for their god, or kill their god itself, destroying its life, history and perchance its effect on any other devotee other than they.
Perhaps this it is a displace madness, an obsession generated by the total lack of self ownership and self power. Perhaps the Celebrities while only temporary give the devotee the moment in time where they can feel overwhelmingly powerful and completely divorced from their miserable lives or completely disconnected from the miserable lives their very Gods live.
It is part of the social construct. Children see parents as gods, infallible and invincible, and as adults this lifelike onus is given to the Celebrity of their own choosing. In the realm of Celebrity worship, there are no boundaries as anything that would prove disconcerting to another can be hidden in the privacy of the devotees home, away from the scrutiny of any onlooker.
Devotees can get into fierce verbal battles with other devotees of other Gods, and like the Gladiators of old, can fight to the teeth about their particular god and its “well deserved” greatness and power.
Like any usurpation of power handed over freely or forcefully taken, the taker is as much a victim as the giver. The co-dependency of this relationship between the Devotee and the god, keep them inexorably bound to each other creating a life long dance of fierce passion and need to give the each other validation. The concert hall, theater, stadium or fan club is the Church of the Celebrities. The devotees attend these churches religiously and participate in the ritual celebration of their Gods.
The question to me becomes, what is missing from the human psyche that such props are needed? How has humanity come to this? And what is missing inside of the human being that this type of attribution of power is needed to be given to an “Idol” or object of their devotion. How is it that the social construct supports and promotes this type of mania?
I would suggest, that it is part of the overall Social Engineering of the masses to seek help, guidance and support outside of themselves instead of being sovereign and responsible from within themselves. I would suggest that for the many many thousands of years that humanity has inhabited this planet, there is something missing, something so intangible that it created a void that needed to be filled.
The Ancient Gods seemed to have left its creation behind, to squander and wallow
in the abyss, a fog, the unknown and sometimes predatory environment called Planet Earth. In man’s quest to find security, he re-invented gods, the gods he barely remembered, who seem to be there to take care of him. After reinventing these Gods, certain men became empowered by their connection to these gods, relegating the rest of the masses to the position of devotee. He set up positions of governance over these devotees, promising to bring the messages of the gods back to them, pure and direct. He selected special devotees who would have just a little bit more than all the others. Then, he created powerful armies to protect these re-invented gods, along with fables, myths and legends of the Greatness of these gods. They became Super Heroes with super powers and abilities beyond what any human could even imagine having.
He also created an economy, one that would support the enormous army that he needed to keep his re-invention secure from attack.
He created massive imposing structures to his gods as if in a competition to prove his god’s greatness over another. He also performed rituals and sacrifices to these Gods so that they could be happy and continue to support and protect them from harm.
What he did not realize, is that he was and is the gods he created. The Gods of Old
did not shared that secret, but enjoyed the adulation they received from the ignorant masses. They played on the innocence, the ignorance and in some cases, the fear of the masses.
The old gods were magnificent, in comparison to their human devotees. But they were fractured, imperfect, unpredictable, and flawed, just like their devotees were. They must have come from a world where this imbalance existed, or they would have never allowed the masses to worship them in the first place.
So, in their absence, man has continued to build enormous structures, war machines, economies, myths, fables and legends to keep their re-inventions alive. It is only through the projection of power onto the gods, that the gods have any power at all and man seems to have lost the “I AM” knowledge.
Nowadays, the Celebrities hold the same position as the ancient Gods. However, they are only as important, magnificent, powerful as their devotees deem them to be. If every fan decided not to worship these people, they would disintegrate and fall from the pedestals (shrines) that were created for them. The idolatry of another human being would cease and man would be challenged with finding the God within.
“Another thing about it. It’s unabashedly the cult of personality (like Mussolini and Kennedy). It’s the epitome of symbolism over substance. It’s the kind of stuff that punk-ass kids would put on a tee-shirt …”
Trumpismo: Eerily similar to Latin America’s macho leaders
“This cult of personality, the cult of the big man…the bravado, the machismo,” says Steven Conn, a history professor at Miami University who has written on the subject. “For folks in Central and South America, that’s a much more familiar character.”
If you stop and think about it, the former Obama campaigns and the current Trump campaign share much in common. Each of them are quintessential examples of the proverbial “cult of personality.” Their followers are focused on a person rather than principles. In the case of Obama, it was all about the first black president. Here’s some breaking news for Americans – if we want to get beyond the issue of race, then we have to stop making race the issue. Pretty simple, but somehow we keep missing it.
In the case of Trump, it’s all about his brash-sticking-it-to-the-man rhetoric. Another piece of breaking news – Trump did not get where he is by sticking it to people in power. Trump is where he is because he effectively cuts deals with people in power. Much like Sprint’s stick-it-to-the-man commercial; do you really think Trump’s going to stick it to himself?
And for those liberals who don’t think that pledging allegiance to Obama is enough for their rock god/messiah, well, they can do like Madonna did last night and strip for him during a DC concert.
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher’s “I Pledge” Video | January 2009
“Power,” Henry Kissinger once told The New York Times, “is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” Kissinger might amend that statement today: Now, fame is power, and thus replaces power as the ultimate aphrodisiac. In fact, fame isn’t just an aphrodisiac — it’s the ultimate nepenthe, a drug causing forgetfulness. The more famous our politicians are, the more we neglect their positions and character. No wonder the most admired woman in America is criminal Hillary Clinton, the most admired man is criminal Barack Obama, and the second-most admired man is loudmouth Donald Trump.
The cult of personality is central to this process of spectacularization. Instead of politicians, in the Weberian model, espousing substantive positions and bearing a responsible commitment to the necessity of compromise, the personages put forward by the major political parties (and here we are primarily speaking of the United States although the point could well be extended) become merely a complex of images intended to acquire value rendered in terms of electoral share. And in this way the political itself becomes an expression of economization, even in regions of political practice not structured by outright bribery.
Barack Obama is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This fact was witnessed by the world on November 4th, 2008 when Obama became the most powerful figure in the world. Obama was sent here from heaven to save our world from sin and destruction. Only worthy souls will be permitted to travel to heaven with Obama upon Earth’s demise. The Church of Obama Christ has since been formed as a way for the world to worship and praise the new savior. He is the direct reincarnation of Jesus Christ and was placed here by the Holy Spirit. The end times are near and you must repent your sins to the Son of God, Barack Obama.
NB Commentary: I want to comment on whether the deaths are faked or real. Everything is energy and the Cabal, that runs this world needs the energy and not necessarily the deaths. You once mentioned that folks are worth “more” dead than alive. Think about it, when someone dies or is reported to have died, all types of energy is released from family, friends, fans, individuals, etc. the Gofundme pages for example, the insurance companies, and behind all this are the Banksters. People don’t realize how the banking system works and how the digital entries are counted as assets, even if they are supposed to go to someone else. But while they are sitting there in the bank, they are considered commodities and can be traded. You follow me?
Now, let’s look at the emotional energy. The Cabal are ritualistically feeding a blood thirsty Vampire Monster, this monster once demanded “blood sacrifices”. They don’t have to have an actual death/blood when they can have hysteria, mania, grief and fear to feed their monster. Since the Monster is not in the physical plain and since we know that death is an illusion, they can manipulate the minds of the masses and get just as much energy out of them as if there was an “actual” death. Just watching how the masses reacts is the “dead” give away.
Back in the day, you would see actual blood flowing. Humans have used “blood” in rituals across cultures. The shedding of blood is an Archetype. Blood represents life, energy. When you bleed, you lose energy, and if enough blood is lost your physical body dies. It seems that so many living things have blood in them, down to the tiniest bug., Throughout human history man has shed the blood of another in conflicts. The more blood he sheds the more power he has, hence “blood sacrifices” are empowering to those who conduct them.
Zachary K Hubbard, in his YouTube Videos, has pointed to this in the transfer of power from one entertainer to another, and the rigging of sports events.
Wars are ritual sacrifices to their Vampire Monster and are still conducted because their Monster needs some “real” blood from time to time.. But it also has a ripple effect around the rest of the world. Grief, Terror, Shock & Awe, feeds the Monster, real or contrived, it’s the energy of Shock and Awe that they want.
When humans indulge in ritual sacrifices that include the spilling of blood and death, they link into that Vampire Monster and become its host. It seeks them out for constant feeding and promises them dominion over the unwashed masses.
But it’s all energy and what we need to do is become the Masters of how we allow our energies to be manipulated and/or drained from us. This Vampire Monster the Cabal is feeding, drains us of our Psychic energy, where the real power lies.. Once the Cabal realized they didn’t have to actually “kill” people to get the energy, they created “Social engineering projects”, to get the same results. Sports games, music festivals, religious evangelism, horror movies, violence and other conduits where the masses gather together and emit powerful energy.
When he say it’s all fake, I can see what he means because they make shit up as they go along, and watch folks become manic, releasing their psychic energy. They have to make shit up, because their Vampire Monster is insatiable.
Antonio Armstrong (NFL) and Wife Murdered by their son, July 29, 2016.. Ritual Sacrifice? Son Framed?
NB Commentary: The mystique around this man and his history goes far back for those of us who experienced his rise and unfortunate fall in the boxing world. As a former member of the Nation Of Islam, I remember this man as a hero, a warrior, an artist and a poet. Personally, boxing to me is a brutal sport, one that boggles my mind that anyone would want to step into a ring and beat on another human being. As a sport, it says a lot about who we are as human beings, but as an industry it says even more about the social engineering that takes place that has folks sitting in the audience, cheering their “champion” on as he beats the snot out of another man, and nowadays, another woman.
It’s a brutal sport and there have been reports of how diseases similar to Parkinson’s can be gotten by these fighters as their heads and brains are banged around in the ring and during training. Muhammad Ali was known for not allowing his opponent to get any punches to his face and head. He knew how to protect himself from those deadly blows but obviously, a few got in.
What I did in my head was to focus on his contribution as a man who “stood up” against the establishment of White Supremacy and the idiocy of fighting the white man’s war when the war was really going on at home. It was a magnificent and moving time during the 60’s and 70’s as movement upon movement emerged from the grassroots and WITHOUT social media, I might add. It was also a tragic time, with our war weary heroes being cut down, one by one. So many people died during this era, so many leaders for social justice, human rights and civil liberties. Occupy Wall Street had nothing on the spontaneity of the various social activist groups that hit the streets. Many too numerous to mention in this short post but the impact of the times still stays with many of us who lived through it.
Born in 1951 I grew up in a neighborhood of predominately African Americans in North Philadelphia. My Mother always had this black pride thing going with her and she was one of the first people in our neighborhood to wear an Afro. She was always a rebel of sorts and I still don’t know if she did it to be contrary or if she did it on the real. Nevertheless, the impact that she had on my life remains with me to this day, and I must admit that my love for my people comes from her admiration of the black skinned man and woman.
I joined the Nation of Islam in 1971, to my Mother’s chagrin of which I do understand now, but certainly could not fathom what her problem was then. Didn’t she tell me that black was beautiful, didn’t she used to say that folks with light eyes had “the devil in them”? Didn’t she encourage me to be a rebel by her own rebellious way of doing things? I soon realized that she didn’t want me to rebel against her, and that’s what she saw it as because I left the Catholic Church while going to a Catholic College and joined the infamous, Nation Of Islam.
There was the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, there was Malcolm X, there was Cassius Clay and there was Minister Jeremiah Shabazz. These folks towered over our heads in the “teachings” and we were in awe of them. And as for me, I will always pay homage to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the father I never had, the grandfather I never had. He is due that much respect because of the lessons I learned from his teachings.
“Two days after his first defeat of Liston, Clay announced his conversion to Islam, and on 6 March, he changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Liston later complained that the Black Muslims, a separatist sect, had threatened him in an attempt to throw the fight. Old ham boxing writers were happy to believe him, and so were America’s rightwing rednecks. Such a charge was at least given credence as the newly renamed boxer was a minister in the Nation of Islam, and the group’s self-proclaimed “messenger”, Elijah Muhammad, had, to all intents, become the boxer’s manager. (Ali was to convert to orthodox Islam in 1975.)” https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/04/muhammad-ali-obituary?CMP=share_btn_fb
As time goes on we progress, we evolve and we learn but we still remember those days and how they changed us.
Today, I learned that one of those people who changed my life took his last breath
on this physical plane and made it outa here. It’s amazing how when someone like that makes transition how you seem to time travel back to those poignant moments when they touched your life in a memorable way. Today, I went all the way back to 1971 when he lost that fight. I was in tears, standing near the mailbox, letter in hand, addressed with only his name, telling him how much I loved him and supported him and prayed for him. I dropped that envelope into the mailbox, with no stamp, no return address and no expectation that he would ever receive it as I cried real tears for this man, this icon, my hero, my warrior, “who floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee.” It was a dark day for me because it felt like something cosmic had changed. I didn’t know what to call it back then. The word cosmic was not a part of my vocabulary, but I felt a serious shift in my consciousness and I cried. It felt like a great war had been lost.
“If the two fights with Liston, epic in their theatricality and outcome, had begun to compile the legend, then the three contests with the uncomplicated, brooding warrior Joe Frazier, in 1971, 1974 and 1975, clinched the immortal deal. Here was an unmissably dramatic, defining, second act. Only six months after the exile’s return against Quarry, Ali squared up to the remorselessly committed hitter “Smokin’ Joe” to challenge for his own usurped title. After a thunderously pulsating, draining 14 rounds it was dead-level. In the last, a fearsome Frazier hook crunched into Ali’s jaw, broke it, and dumped him on the canvas, sprawling on his back. Frazier deservedly won the decision – but the fact that Ali somehow gathered himself to his feet and attempted to fight back not only had the fans round the world swooning at the heroism, but it gave notice of the added, and unconsidered, ingredient that would embrace Ali for the rest of his life.” https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/04/muhammad-ali-obituary?CMP=share_btn_fb
Knowing today, what I know about sports and entertainment, I have my suspicions about his illness. Some may call me paranoid, but I see it as discernment and critical thinking. When you look at the trail of tears caused by the fallen warriors during that time, it does beg to question… was a fix in??
This video playlist offers some suggestions as to Ali’s debilitating health condition.
“She said doctors told her the disease was not the result of absorbing too many punches but a genetic condition.
Ten weeks before Ali’s match in 1980 against Larry Holmes, a team of doctors at the Mayo Clinic submitted a medical report to the Nevada State Athletic Commission describing a small hole in his brain’s outer layer and noting that the boxer reported a tingling sensation in his hands and slurred speech.” http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/04/health/parkinsons-disease-explainer/
“In summary, this study highlights the fact that a PD diagnosis likely affects life span; and, among people affected by PD, dementia is a predictor of a shorter life span. As a significant non-motor feature of Parkinson’s disease, it is clear that additional research is needed to develop ways to diagnose and treat cognitive impairment in PD.” http://www.pdf.org/en/science_news/release/pr_1325692019
“Muhammad Ali’s personal doctor has revealed he cannot be sure that boxing contributed to the former heavyweight world champion’s Parkinson’s Disease. Ali, considered by many to be the greatest boxer of all time, has suffered with the neurological syndrome since the mid-1980s and it has often been presumed that blows to the head during his 21-year professional career were a contributing factor to his condition. But Dr Abraham Lieberman, who is the Medical Director of the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Centre, admits that it is not possible to be entirely sure what caused Ali to suffer from Parkinson’s.” Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-2817592/No-proof-Muhammad-Ali-s-Parkinson-s-Disease-caused-boxing.html#ixzz4AfDtnkbk
Our young brothers and sisters too, coming home from Vietnam… Malcolm, Martin, John, Robert, Medgar, and many others whose death sent shockwaves around the world….. These tragic deaths have a lasting effect on your psyche because they were rays of hope during a very, very cruel and hateful time. They each had their own battles, they each fought in their own arenas, some even gathered together for the same fight, but they were stalwart in the movement for justice.
“The government had already killed Kennedy, Malcolm, King, and abroad the father of black consciousness Steven Biko was killed and Nelson Mandela was in jail, and they had one more influential black man they had to silence. Ali won the Olympic gold medal in Rome the same year that Kennedy was elected president-1960; he won the heavyweight title and joined the Nation of Islam the same year that Civil Rights Bill was passed-1964. In 1966 the Black Panther Party was formed and Ali was inducted into the military in 1967 to keep his influence away from the movement but he foiled the government’s plans by refusing to go. In 1973 Eldrige Cleaver ran for Mayor of Oakland and in 1974 Ali was a the zenith of his influence after he beat Foreman in Africa and galvanized the African Diaspora by simultaneously championing black nationalism over Christianity. Ali is now the most famous person in the world, but he was on his way to becoming the most influential person in the world and he was too public a figure for the government to murder in the context of the atrocities they had recently committed. As a Black Nationalist, Ali couldn’t be allowed to become that prominent, and it is my belief that the government injected Muhammad Ali with MPTP to give him Parkinson’s to silence his gospel that would have changed the world unprecedentedly. My name is Kinshasa and these are my waking thoughts, you may disagree, but rest assured my intelligence is superior.” https://readquestionmark.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/the-ali-conspiracy/
So, when he lost the fight, I was riddled from right to left, back and forth, up and down. Never knowing any of these people personally but the communal and social mystique surrounding them made them up front and personal in my mind.
And then he lost the fight. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad warned him,
don’t go back into the ring. You have your championship! You are the greatest boxer of all times, don’t go back. Stay with us, come with us, teach the lessons, so many people listen to you. But he didn’t listen, and we in the Nation kinda knew why he lost. We wanted him to win, we hoped he would win and we prayed on it to, but he lost. And that was the story that we knew would happen, because our Messenger had warned him.
To be clear, I am nowhere near as naïve as I was back in those days. I never heard of Co-Intel Pro or any of that stuff before I joined the Nation. I learned about that and more afterwards. But I knew about say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud!!! I also know that today, he can read my message to him, and maybe read that letter I placed in the mailbox decades ago, addressed to him, that let him know, I loved him and that he was one of my heroes. Of course, I am sure he will be very, very busy pouring through his cosmic mailbox.
Blessings to you Muhammad Ali, your family and loved ones
during these times.
May you Rise In Power.
And if you decide to return, may you return to a world of justice, freedom, righteousness and love, a world totally different from the one you left behind.
“We forgive Muhammad Ali his excesses,” an Ali biographer, Dave Kindred, wrote, “because we see in him the child in us, and if he is foolish or cruel, if he is arrogant, if he is outrageously in love with his reflection, we forgive him because we no more can condemn him than condemn a rainbow for dissolving into the dark. Rainbows are born of thunderstorms, and Muhammad Ali is both.”
Muhammad Ali, ‘The Greatest of All Time’, Dead at 74
by Jon Schuppe
Muhammad Ali, the silver-tongued boxer and civil rights champion who famously proclaimed himself “The Greatest” and then spent a lifetime living up to the billing, is dead.
Ali died Friday at a Phoenix-area hospital, where he had spent the past few days being treated for respiratory complications, a family spokesman confirmed to NBC News. He was 74.
Muhammad Ali Dies at Age 74 2:12
“After a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening,” Bob Gunnell, a family spokesman, told NBC News.
Ali had suffered for three decades from Parkinson’s, a progressive neurological condition that slowly robbed him of both his verbal grace and his physical dexterity. A funeral service is planned in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
His daughter Rasheda said early Saturday that the legend was “no longer suffering,” describing him as “daddy, my best friend and hero” as well as “the greatest man that ever lived.”
Even as his health declined, Ali did not shy from politics or controversy, releasing a statement in December criticizing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. “We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda,” he said.
The remark bookended the life of a man who burst into the national consciousness in the early 1960s, when as a young heavyweight champion he converted to Islam and refused to serve in the Vietnam War, and became an emblem of strength, eloquence, conscience and courage. Ali was an anti-establishment showman who transcended borders and barriers, race and religion. His fights against other men became spectacles, but he embodied much greater battles.
Fighter and Thinker: the Two Sides of Muhammad Ali
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay on Jan. 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky, to middle-class parents, Ali started boxing when he was 12, winning Golden Gloves titles before heading to the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where he won a gold medal as a light heavyweight.
He turned professional shortly afterward, supported at first by Louisville business owners who guaranteed him an unprecedented 50-50 split in earnings. His knack for talking up his own talents — often in verse — earned him the dismissive nickname “the Louisville Lip,” but he backed up his talk with action, relocating to Miami to work with top trainer Angelo Dundee and build a case for getting a shot at the heavyweight title.
As his profile rose, Ali acted out against American racism. After he was refused services at a soda fountain counter, he said, he threw his Olympic gold medal into a river.
Recoiling from the sport’s tightly knit community of agents and promoters, Ali found guidance instead from the Nation of Islam, an American Muslim sect that advocated racial separation and rejected the pacifism of most civil rights activism. Inspired by Malcolm X, one of the group’s leaders, he converted in 1963. But he kept his new faith a secret until the crown was safely in hand.
That came the following year, when heavyweight champion Sonny Liston agreed to fight Ali. The challenger geared up for the bout with a litany of insults and rhymes, including the line, “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” He beat the fearsome Liston in a sixth-round technical knockout before a stunned Miami Beach crowd. In the ring, Ali proclaimed, “I am the greatest! I am the greatest! I’m the king of the world.”
A Controversial Champion
The new champion soon renounced Cassius Clay as his “slave name” and said he would be known from then on as Muhammad Ali — bestowed by Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. He was 22 years old.
The move split sports fans and the broader American public: an American sports champion rejecting his birth name and adopting one that sounded subversive.
Ali successfully defended his title six times, including a rematch with Liston. Then, in 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, Ali was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army.
He’d said previously that the war did not comport with his faith, and that he had “no quarrel” with America’s enemy, the Vietcong. He refused to serve.
“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, some poor, hungry people in the mud, for big powerful America, and shoot them for what?” Ali said in an interview. “They never called me nigger. They never lynched me. They didn’t put no dogs on me.”
His stand culminated with an April appearance at an Army recruiting station, where he refused to step forward when his name was called. The reaction was swift and harsh. He was stripped of his boxing title, convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five years in prison.
Released on appeal but unable to fight or leave the country, Ali turned to the lecture circuit, speaking on college campuses, where he engaged in heated debates, pointing out the hypocrisy of denying rights to blacks even as they were ordered to fight the country’s battles abroad.
“My enemy is the white people, not Vietcongs or Chinese or Japanese,” Ali told one white student who challenged his draft avoidance. “You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. You won’t even stand up for me in America for my religious beliefs and you want me to go somewhere and fight but you won’t even stand up for me here at home.”
Muhammad Ali is held back by referee Joe Walcott, left, after Ali knocked out challenger Sonny Liston in the first round of their title fight in Lewiston, Maine on May 25, 1965. AP, file
Ali’s fiery commentary was praised by antiwar activists and black nationalists and vilified by conservatives, including many other athletes and sportswriters.
His appeal took four years to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which in June 1971 reversed the conviction in a unanimous decision that found the Department of Justice had improperly told the draft board that Ali’s stance wasn’t motivated by religious belief.
Return to the Ring
Toward the end of his legal saga, Georgia agreed to issue Ali a boxing license, which allowed him to fight Jerry Quarry, whom he beat. Six months later, at a sold-out Madison Square Garden, he lost to Joe Frazier in a 15-round duel touted as “the fight of the century.” It was Ali’s first defeat as a pro.
That fight began one of boxing’s and sport’s greatest rivalries. Ali and Frazier fought again in 1974, after Frazier had lost his crown. This time, Ali won in a unanimous decision, making him the lead challenger for the heavyweight title.
He took it from George Foreman later that year in a fight in Zaire dubbed “The Rumble in the Jungle,” a spectacularly hyped bout for which Ali moved to Africa for the summer, followed by crowds of chanting locals wherever he went. A three-day music festival featuring James Brown and B.B. King preceded the fight. Finally, Ali delivered a historic performance in the ring, employing a new strategy dubbed the “rope-a-dope,” goading the favored Foreman into attacking him, then leaning back into the ropes in a defensive stance and waiting for Foreman to tire. Ali then went on the attack, knocking out Foreman in the eighth round. The maneuver has been copied by many other champions since.
The third fight in the Ali-Frazier trilogy followed in 1975, the “Thrilla in Manila” that is now regarded as one of the best boxing matches of all time. Ali won in a technical knockout in the 15th round.
Ali successfully defended his title until 1978, when he was beaten by a young Leon Spinks, and then quickly took it back. He retired in 1979, when he was 37, but, seeking to replenish his dwindling personal fortune, returned in 1980 for a title match against Larry Holmes, which he lost. Ali lost again, to Trevor Berbick, the following year. Finally, Ali retired for good.
Muhammad Ali, right, takes a punch from Trevor Berbick, of Canada, during the first round of their 10-round bout in Nassau, Bahamas, in this Dec. 11, 1981 file photo. AP, file
‘He’s Human, Like Us’
The following year, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
“I’m in no pain,” he told The New York Times. “A slight slurring of my speech, a little tremor. Nothing critical. If I was in perfect health — if I had won my last two fights — if I had no problem, people would be afraid of me. Now they feel sorry for me. They thought I was Superman. Now they can go, ‘He’s human, like us. He has problems.’ ”
During the research period from 1993 to 2009, 211 patients died. The analysis revealed that:
The average time from the onset of symptoms to death was 16 years.
The average age at death was 81.
Patients with dementia were nearly twice as likely to die early as patients without memory problems.
Patients with a history of delusions, hallucinations, or other psychotic symptoms were almost 50% more likely to die early, compared to patients without the symptoms.
Even as his health gradually declined, Ali — who switched to more mainstream branches of Islam — threw himself into humanitarian causes, traveling to Lebanon in 1985 and Iraq in 1990 to seek the release of American hostages. In 1996, he lit the Olympic flame in Atlanta, lifting the torch with shaking arms. With each public appearance he seemed more feeble, a stark contrast to his outsized aura. He continued to be one of the most recognizable people in the world.
He traveled incessantly for many years, crisscrossing the globe in appearances in which he made money but also pushed philanthropic causes. He met with presidents, royalty, heads of state, the Pope. He told “People” magazine that his largest regret was not playing a more intimate role in the raising of his children. But he said he did not regret boxing. “If I wasn’t a boxer, I wouldn’t be famous,” he said. “If I wasn’t famous, I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing now.”
In 2005, President George W. Bush honored Ali with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and his hometown of Louisville opened the Muhammad Ali Center, chronicling his life but also as a forum for promoting tolerance and respect.
Divorced three times and the father of nine children — one of whom, Laila, become a boxer — Ali married his last wife, Yolanda “Lonnie” Williams, in 1986; they lived for a long time in Berrien Springs, Michigan, then moved to Arizona.
In recent years, Ali’s health began to suffer dramatically. There was a death scare in 2013, and last year he was rushed to the hospital after being found unresponsive. He recovered and returned to his new home in Arizona.
In his final years, Ali was barely able to speak. Asked to share his personal philosophy with NPR in 2009, Ali let his wife read his essay:
“I never thought of the possibility of failing, only of the fame and glory I was going to get when I won,” Ali wrote. “I could see it. I could almost feel it. When I proclaimed that I was the greatest of all time, I believed in myself, and I still do.”
The Laughable Idea that Cosby would Change the Stereotypes of Blacks if He Had a Network!
by Nana Baakan Jan. 14, 2016
Why do people think that if Bill Cosby had NBC that would make him more powerful. Come on Folks!! NBC????
Irritated Genie on Bill Cosby & NBC
What makes folks think that that is power? And what makes people think that if he got it and did all that stuff that folks think the Powers that Be don’t want him to do, that he would be successful? A take down is a take down and they don’t care what kind of Psuedo power you have. Besides, it’s commerce… people really don’t have a clue how this shithole works when it comes to fame, money, fame, money, politics, fame, money and corruption…
Even Ruppert Murdock has some running competition and he owns a bunch of media. Don’t get it twisted folks. Cosby would have to be in a whole other league to be untouchable. Perhaps create his own TV Network? Perhaps, but buying NBC is so laughable and people keep saying this over and over.
His power days have long since been gone. And when he had it, that was the time to really do something for the Black Community.
If they really wanted to shake him down, they would have “allowed” the buy out and then expose him to the world, what better way to pull the rug out from under him.
Cosby said “No” to somebody, and that did not go over well. So they launched a well hidden campaign to defame him in the eyes of the masses. This campaign has been hidden for some time, and held on to, for just the right moment and then, boom to the moon!
Okay, for the sake of argument, let’s say that the conjecture that Cosby was gonna change the stereotypes of blacks in the media and that it was gonna make a big difference int he black community and that this difference was gonna scare white folks so much so they had to take Cosby down. Let’s just say you might have a point.
Now.
Let’s take a look at reality. If all it took was righteous examples of Black Folks in the media to change things around, how come there are hardly any, no where? Is everyone who comes up with the idea being threatened with a take down?
No, in fact Spike Lee did his fair share of changing that image and you see what happened to him right? I ain’t just talking about what the elite did to him. I am talking about what Black Folks did to him.
Black folks support shows that are very stereotypical. They support the rap artists
that talk about bitches and hoes and gangsters and drugs. They watch BET and the TV shows. And the MEDIA knows that!! Black folks participate quite handsomely in their own demise.
Look at the food we eat, the music we listen to, the TV shows we watch. If there was no market for it, then it would not sell and they would have stopped portraying Black folks like that a long time ago.
So the idea that Cosby was gonna do ANYTHING is laughable, because Black folks would soon tire of a zillion Cosby Shows and Fat Alberts. And we have to face that fact. If it were not for Blacks spending their money on the things that destroy them, there would be no market for the stereotypes. Cosby would soon have to fold because nobody would be watching his boring, tired, unexciting network full of do-gooder black folks, going to college and having their own businesses, being respectful to each other and helping the homeless. GIVE ME A BREAK! That network would fold in 6 months for lack of advertisement sales and viewers. Let’s be serious.
People wanna see muck, mire, debauchery, crime, punishment, illicit sex, scandal, corruption, etc. That is why it sells. Do you think Oprah is living high off the hog with her whining and crying Network?? Heck no, she don’t care now cause she don’t need the money!! LOL
Black folks need to stop being apologists for Cosby and open their eyes. It’s a rabbit hole and it’s way deeper than you think.
As far as the Media is concerned, Blacks have got to stop blaming the white man for their depictions of stereotypes! If you don’t like it, don’t buy it, don’t buy their music, don’t buy their fashion and cosmetic lines, don’t support any artists who are not uplifting and liberating the Black community. Don’t support businesses that do not support the Black community. Don’t go to their institutions of learning and stay the hell out of their jails.
Blacks complain and complain about White Supremacy in one breath and support the Machine in the next. That is why the idea is laughable because the Machine knows that the majority of Black folks would not support a Network that wasn’t catering to the lowest most defiled images of Black Folks, they know that and that is why they are rich because of it.
We really gotta wake up to what is happening and take responsibility for our actions and stop blaming the white man!
Bill Cosby’s daughter, Erinn, talks sexual assault by Mike Tyson; relationshop with father Greg Garrett 1992 Do you believe Erinn had any inkling of her father’s proclivities?
NANA’S COMMENTARY
This is so ironic. Erinn Cosby having a run in with Mike Tyson, accusing him of attempted rape. Her reaction to being assaulted by a well known celebrity is quite poignant. She admits her mental state and her use of drugs, but does seems to be a bit guarded in her words.
It’s the world of Sports/Entertainment. Wine, Women, Drugs and Sex. Now looking at the current allegations against Bill Cosby, why on God’s Green Earth would Cosby upset the apple cart when his own apple cart was full of worms. So, to keep all things “in the family” Cosby didn’t bring his daughters accusations against Mike Tyson out into the public eye but suggested getting help for Mike Tyson. See video below.
Imagine how much courage it would have given the women who have accused Cosby from that era to come out against him if he attacked Mike Tyson? Imagine the outrage they would have felt if they saw him moralizing against something that he has been “allegedly” doing himself? So, yeah, in the police force, they call it the Blue Line, where they protect one another. I don’t know what they call it in Sports/Entertainment/Politics but many scandals are swept right under the rug, and the bigger they are as celebrities the quick and easy fix is in, automatically. And then again, there comes that time when, for whatever reason, known or unknown, the “fix” don’t work no more. What I truly like about this video is how it shows a woman who has been violated and the many nuances of that and its impact on her as a human being. It shows her fears, confusion, need to be supported by her family, and the pressure of the society to bring to the fore something about a “big, powerful” man who has a lot of fans and backing. Who would believe her? Did she get paid to tell or did she get paid to shut up? The scrutiny that a woman would be subjected to; i.e., doubts and innuendos about her character, family relations, mental state, academic history, etc. all play a role in shaping the reaction of any woman in the position of being violated by a “popular” man or any man for that matter.. This is so incredibly ironic some 23 years later….. with Cosby “Himself” being exposed.
Some devotees become so obsessed they will kill for their god, or kill their god itself, destroying its life, history and perchance its effect on any other devotee other than they.
It is part of the social construct. Children see parents as gods, infallible and 
decacsinc 
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