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Originally Posted by uh-oh
i ninja edited as you were posting this. he never went to prison.
but thats besides the point, he was drafted and refused service, he wasn't lawfully deemed a conscientious objector, he didnt serve in the military and was sentenced to 5 years in prison. he was sentenced FOR DODGING THE DRAFT
you get drafted, you go to war.
a draft dodger can be a coward who slinks to canada, or someone like ali. its simply not answering the call when drafted
personally i view people like donald trump as a draft dodger as well, he worked the system with deferments and shit, but technically he isn't.
TECHNICALLY by definition and by all legal viewpoints, ali WAS a draft dodger.
your personal definition and opinion doesn't make it different lol
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There is no legal definition of draft dodger because the legal term is draft evasion. And yes, Ali was guilty of draft evasion. But the phrase draft dodger, during the war, was used to describe literally anyone who found ways out of service, including gay men and conscientious objectors. After Vietnam, however, the term became used for people who sought ways to evade duty without punishment. Draft dodgers were people who the government was looking for, not people who had stood and taken their penalties. Ali took the penalty for not serving —and, yes, he went to jail (though not prison). He was handcuffed and sent to jail on the spot.
Ali evaded the draft through the act of open defiance. Had he simply fled the country, I'd be much more inclined to agree with the concept of cowardice. That's no way to make a statement. Ali broke the law and the draft brazenly by staring the men of the military right in the eyes.
It's bizarre that anyone would even try to defend the draft or the Vietnam War to me, though. Do people scream about Rosa Parks' criminal behavior not being held against her?