I know this whole Nobel Prize issue has been beaten to death. I hope you will indulge one final point before we move forward to address real issues of the day…
My first impression at his receipt of the Nobel Prize was one of anger and resentment. However, after further reflection, my anger was replaced with complacency. One merely has to look to some of the previous recipients to realize that The Nobel Peace Prize is nothing more than a symbol that has lost any symbolic meaning it may have once had. A quick look to its history and previous recipients clearly shows that there is no consistency or efficacy in its bestowment.
Nobel was an innovator, the inventor of dynamite. He was considered in his time a brilliant man. The initial purpose of the award was to award innovation and to preserve that part of his legacy. However, Nobel had in his lifetime been harshly criticized because his fortune and notoriety had come from the development of explosives and subsequently weapons technology.
It was for this reason that he established a separate prize for proliferation of peace.
It is an interesting note that the section of the Nobel Committee that awards the Peace Prize is not only wholly and completely separate from the other committees; it is actually in another country. The majority of the Nobel Prize Organization is located in Sweden, Nobel’s home country. The Peace Committee is actually located in Norway, it is assumed this is because of Nobel’s admiration for Norway’s neutrality and of certain political writers that resided there. Now that a predicate is established we begin to understand that this award is wholly different from the other categories, which are designed to award innovation and the development of science and industry. The Nobel Peace Prize has no real criteria and or prerequisites, you are not required to develop anything or accomplish anything….
The Committee representatives have said in many interviews since the award was given that they often give the award as encouragement… For example, the award was given to Arafat and Rabin simply because they participated in Oslo Accords. We can see what affect that “encouragement” had on the region… Or more recently, the award was given to Al Gore for his production of the “Inconvenient Truth” a film on climate change. What real affect does that have on peace?
In conclusion, why should Conservatives be angry about an award that does not mean anything?
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