Muhammad Ali
Jordan Fox
Muhammad Ali is a great example of someone who demonstrates acts of civil disobedience. Ali always followed his moral code, if that meant converting to Islam or denying the selective service act it did not matter. Ali denied the draft because the people that the soldiers were being sent to kill were fighting for the same thing that "his people" were fighting for and that was freedom. He did not allow the law to hold him back from being correct in his mind. Ali thought war was wrong and felt he was being used by the man to do their dirty work, Henry David Thoreau felt the same way "The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies" (Thoreau). Thoreau believed that men where not treated like men in the army and he did not think that was ok. Ali was determined not to follow what the law says he must do but instead do what he thinks is right. Ali said the reason that he was denying the draft was due to religious beliefs. Something that Thoreau believes the army lacks, "serve the state with their consciences they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God." (Thoreau). It is very hard to say that someone is a godly person when there job is to kill foreign enemies. Ali believes that is wrong and will not stand for it. The following reasons are why Ali should be considered to have the trait of civil disobedient.