The Star Newspaper has named Rufus Busquet as Person of the Yesr. Following is the artcle penned by respected lournalist Rick Wayne It will be posted in four parts.
Person of the Year 2008!
January 26, 2009 by Star-Publishing
Rufus Bousquet: The dish that ran away with the spoon!
Far less love him than hate him. Or imagine they do. Which is reminiscent of Muhammad Ali before his conversion to Islam, when he was Cassius Clay and widely derided as “The Louisville Lip,” “The Mouth that Roared,” and several other pejoratives, each more demeaning than the one before.
Back in the day, the young Clay was hated. That the handsome, young, brash and unapologetically garrulous fighter from Louisville, Kentucky was savvy enough to turn the widespread loathing to his economic advantage was further proof that while some imagined he was crazy—in actual fact Clay was only crazy like a fox!
Remember when his fights were guaranteed box-office blockbusters? Maybe you don’t, dear under-forty reader. But your daddy would know. Or your mama. In his heyday, as many went to fights of Clay to witness yet another dazzling ring performance as bought tickets hoping to see the big mouth go down for the count. Of course, that never happened. Even though he went down once or twice—no one ever counted him out.
That he took to predicting the rounds when he would dispatch his abruptly outclassed opponents—famously including the demolition man Sonny Liston and George Foreman when his left hand could knock down brick walls—only generated more animus that inspired further stampedes to the box-office. Who would have imagined that following a controversial name change the former Cassius Clay would be revered the world over—even in the evidently unloving Middle East—as Muhammad Ali, World’s Most Lovable Man? Yes, who indeed?
By whatever name, Rufus Bousquet has been despised, loathed, abhorred, cursed, pilloried, and yes, intensely hated by people who never met him, let alone looked him in the eye. Their impressions of the man were created and sustained by a relentless press desperate to make up for its own pre-Jessica shortcomings. Which is not to say their target was a saint, altogether undeserving of the media attention!
Rufus Bousquet has also known love. How else could he have been elected to parliament as many times as he has since 1992? If only his faceless tormentors would bear that in mind, they might better understand the vicissitudes of small-island politics, including that your present adoring palm carriers can tomorrow turn on you shouting “crucify him! crucify him!” It’s the way of politics. So it was in the days of George Charles and John Compton, all the way to George Odlum and Julian Hunte. And lest we forget, Kenny Anthony, who once walked on water—as Barack Obama now walks on water!
Person of the Year 2008!
January 26, 2009 by Star-Publishing
Rufus Bousquet: The dish that ran away with the spoon!
Far less love him than hate him. Or imagine they do. Which is reminiscent of Muhammad Ali before his conversion to Islam, when he was Cassius Clay and widely derided as “The Louisville Lip,” “The Mouth that Roared,” and several other pejoratives, each more demeaning than the one before.
Back in the day, the young Clay was hated. That the handsome, young, brash and unapologetically garrulous fighter from Louisville, Kentucky was savvy enough to turn the widespread loathing to his economic advantage was further proof that while some imagined he was crazy—in actual fact Clay was only crazy like a fox!
Remember when his fights were guaranteed box-office blockbusters? Maybe you don’t, dear under-forty reader. But your daddy would know. Or your mama. In his heyday, as many went to fights of Clay to witness yet another dazzling ring performance as bought tickets hoping to see the big mouth go down for the count. Of course, that never happened. Even though he went down once or twice—no one ever counted him out.
That he took to predicting the rounds when he would dispatch his abruptly outclassed opponents—famously including the demolition man Sonny Liston and George Foreman when his left hand could knock down brick walls—only generated more animus that inspired further stampedes to the box-office. Who would have imagined that following a controversial name change the former Cassius Clay would be revered the world over—even in the evidently unloving Middle East—as Muhammad Ali, World’s Most Lovable Man? Yes, who indeed?
By whatever name, Rufus Bousquet has been despised, loathed, abhorred, cursed, pilloried, and yes, intensely hated by people who never met him, let alone looked him in the eye. Their impressions of the man were created and sustained by a relentless press desperate to make up for its own pre-Jessica shortcomings. Which is not to say their target was a saint, altogether undeserving of the media attention!
Rufus Bousquet has also known love. How else could he have been elected to parliament as many times as he has since 1992? If only his faceless tormentors would bear that in mind, they might better understand the vicissitudes of small-island politics, including that your present adoring palm carriers can tomorrow turn on you shouting “crucify him! crucify him!” It’s the way of politics. So it was in the days of George Charles and John Compton, all the way to George Odlum and Julian Hunte. And lest we forget, Kenny Anthony, who once walked on water—as Barack Obama now walks on water!
No comments:
Post a Comment