Читать книгу Sporting Blood. Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing онлайн

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Because Ali was a “common man” symbol for a revolutionary movement primarily sparked by middle-class baby boomers, he was adopted with almost comic blind faith by activist liberals, despite the fact he was often intrinsically opposed to their ideals. Ali did not drink. He did not smoke. Drugs were strictly verboten. He was well-dressed and clean-shaven. The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan was the last book he would thumb through. His disavowal of involvement during the struggles of the civil rights era was in stark contrast to the philosophy of disobedience practiced by progressives throughout the 1960s. Worst of all, perhaps, his segregationist stance was distinctly at cross-purposes with the Utopian vision of his newfound champions. Later, when Ali was accepted by moderates and liberals alike, his hobnobbing with brutal—even insane—despots such as Idi Amin, Mobutu Sese Seko, Ferdinand Marcos, Muammar Gaddafi, and “Papa Doc” Duvalier was something his leftist backers could only cringe over.