Muhammad Ali

[Elle]

Two things: a person with Parkinson's or any other disease isn't suddenly useless or of less interest because they have Parkinson's. Indeed, one of the most inspiring things about Ali was how hard he worked on charitable advocacy even when the physical struggle must have been a tremendous challenge. And even before that, he was a role model precisely because his life was much larger than just the boxing ring. So no, just stop with all the "this is how WE selfishly want to remember him" BS.

Second, he should not be described as "broken", NYT. UGH. Shame on you.

[mimekiller]

I liked it when he punched the dude and the dude went oh nooooo

[Phoebe]

Thanks for dredging this up; the feelings about it are even more serious than they were before. Honestly, how dare they call him broken? How dare they diminish someone who didn't let his disease diminish him?

[mimekiller]

[Phoebe]

I don't seek them out, but they carry the happy aura of a time I watched boxing with my grandpa, who would explain it. He had many fights under his belt and knew whereof he spoke.

[mimekiller]

oh wow huh. Like on a pro or amateur level or just getting into scraps in general?

[Phoebe]

He did some amateur boxing for fun and worked as a bouncer. Or maybe a "bouncer" if you want to put it that way, given that I'm not really clear what forms of fighting his employment situation entailed. He was concerned about small, scrappy, drunk guys who weren't afraid to fight him, because he figured they had some reason to believe in their own effectiveness, combined with an angry drunk's inability to recognize the boundaries of normal civilized behavior. I.e. these are the people who would be trying to kill you with a broken glass, vs. just working out their aggressions through the usual throwing of a few punches. Lessons we learn at the knee of our forebears. He had the most beautiful handwriting of any person on earth, btw.