The Boxer, The Philosopher and The Model
It sounds like the title of one of those jokes, but it is a story I picked up in Wikipedia.
Years ago, C used to know the late Dee Wells and her sister. Dee was a respected journalist and was married at the time to the rather famous philosopher Professor A. J. Ayer. I was browsing through his entry and found this story.
He taught or lectured several times in the United States, including serving as a visiting professor at Bard College in the fall of 1987. At a party that same year held by fashion designer Fernando Sanchez, Ayer, then 77, confronted Mike Tyson who was forcing himself upon the (then) little-known model Naomi Campbell. When Ayer demanded that Tyson stop, the boxer said: “Do you know who the fuck I am? I’m the heavyweight champion of the world,” to which Ayer replied: “And I am the former Wykeham Professor of Logic. We are both pre-eminent in our field. I suggest that we talk about this like rational men”. Ayer and Tyson then began to talk, while Naomi Campbell slipped out.
Does this illustrate that words are stronger than fists?