The first thing I did this morning (yay! no school!), half-asleep, was turn on my T.V., since I had no desire to do anything more involved. My parents had left it on a news channel. In less than a minute I was wide awake, wondering if I was suffering from hallucinations. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Huh? I promptly turned off the T.V.
Just a few minutes ago, I found an article talking about much the same thing. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. I started wondering, who makes up the committee that decides who gets a Nobel? Is their a separate committee for each Nobel Prize? Does the Nobel Peace Prize mean anything, especially after a known terrorist, Yazar Arafat. recevied one? And what in the world did Carter and Gore do? And, finally, why is there no mention of a conservation/Republican winning a Nobel Peace Prize?
I have yet to find an answer to any of these questions and help would be appreciated.
But back to what I wanted to say earlier. Why did Obama receive a prize when the nominations closed 12 days after he came to office? He hadn't done anything yet. Then, I remembered. The committee had previously given Nobel Peace Prizes based off promises alone, as they did with Arafat. (I do not mean to say that Obama is in any way analogous to Arafat, just that the committee's behavior to both is the same.)
What do you think of Obama's award? Should he have gotten the Prize for his promises alone? Remember, the decision of who gets a Nobel is supposed to be based entirely on what was done before the nomination deadline, which was 12 days after Obama's administration took office.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You say that the nominations were closed twelve days before Obama actually took office, but that would mean that he had been elected for some time by that point. The way Obama campaigned in itself might be reason for nomination.
ReplyDeleteAlso, to say that "He hadn't done anything yet" is false. I think that he made a lot of progress for the country before being sworn in as president.
Your first question about Al Gore I'm assuming him, I don't know much about the Nobel Peace Prize. But maybe you could argue that An Inconvenient Truth did bring the world together in some way showing how we must all work together to fix the eco system.
ReplyDeleteAlso when Obama first took office they showed celebratory footage from all over the world after he was elected president so maybe people really believed that he would bring change and hope to the country. Although his ratings aren't as high now, Obama voters had very high hopes for what he would do. Maybe they just really wanted to believe in something good in a time of crisis.
Lizzy, I'm sorry for the confusion. I meant to say that the nominations closed 12 days AFTER Obama took office.
ReplyDelete