I thought the Nobel Peace Prize was for actually doing something
I put a polite title on this thing so it wouldn’t shock the children. The real title I wanted to put, and the phrase that is reverberating through my brain, is WHAT THE FUCK?
I just woke up a few minutes ago — haven’t even had my coffee yet — and the first thing in my email this morning is a message saying Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. My reactions in sequence:
- What the fuck? (still working through that one, as you see)
- It’s a joke.
- It’s GOTTA be a joke.
- Holy fuck! It’s not a joke!
- Why? What is it for? What has he done?
The Nobel Peace Prize is not the People’s Choice Award, for god’s sake. It’s the kind of thing you get for stopping wars and brokering armistices. It’s the kind of thing you get for a lifetime of working for peace and human rights. It’s not for…whatever the fuck Obama has done. What has he done? He’s done nothing.
What the FUCK is going on?
I need my fucking coffee.
116 Responses to “I thought the Nobel Peace Prize was for actually doing something”
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Vera says:
The New York Times calls it a “surprise.” The Nobel committee says it is “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The audience, apparently, gasped.
Some commenters are stating that awarding him the prize is “premature.” Ya think?
I’m glad you’re here to share this news, Violet, because I am up early alone with the crickets and morning crows (damn their cawing), and it’s no fun being stunned silly all by myself.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:12 am EST -
Violet says:
Hey, Vera! Yeah, it’s weird as hell. I just told my Dad, since he’s up early with the animals, and he said “oh shit.” Just “oh shit.” With an expression that says “that is the most candy-ass absurd shit I’ve ever heard.”
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yttik says:
I think I woke up in the wrong dimension. Somebody cue the Twilight Zone music.
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Kookaburra says:
Heh, even the Obamatrons on another website I frequent are flummoxed and wondering what the hell is going on. Mostly they seem to be covering their surprise with, “At least this will make Fox News go ballistic” though.
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SarahG says:
I think it’s sweet that you think the Nobel Peace Prize still means anything at all. They give it for not being George W. Bush; but jeez, at least Gore made a movie.
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monchichipox says:
I’m such a sarcastic person with a dark heart. Yet even I’m left speechless at this. It will be at least noon time before I can return with something snarky and hateful to say.
Please standby.
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RKMK says:
THANK YOU.
Someone just brought this issue up in my office. I asked, “Can someone tell me what exactly he got nominated for?” And my co-worker was all, “You don’t NEED a reason to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.” Which, is the most singularly STUPID thing she’s ever said, ever. And I was like, “Actually, I’m pretty sure Lester Pearson was nominated for negotiating the peace settlement for the Suez crisis. You need to have done something.” And she started spinning off about how he’s changed the image of America and what it means to be an American in the world, blah blah defensive-cakes. And I’m like, “So, just to be clear, he has not DONE anything. He has not stopped either war, and he’s still torturing suspected terrorists at Gitmo, but because he’s Barack Obama, he’s getting a Nobel Peace Prize?” And she got really snippy, and started defending not leaving Iraq & Afghanistan, and how you can’t just abandon them, have to build infrastructure, blah blah apologist-cakes, but had nothing to say when I replied, “Yeah, but I’m pretty sure he could stop torturing people.”
Ceiling Cat, save me from Obama-pologists.
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Violet says:
It seems to me that on the peace-war continuum, Obama’s actions in office have been heavily slanted towards the war side. As in, isn’t he right now figuring out to ramp up in Afghanistan? Am I dreaming?
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Vera says:
I’ve been reading comments at the NYT site, and the supportive ones sound just like the usual Obama praise, along the lines of “he makes me DREAM again!” I’m not keeping count, but my impression is that most of the comments are negative.
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anna says:
What!?
What about Sima Samar, Piedad Cordoba, Kathy Kelly, the Chinese and Burmese and North Korean dissidents?!
For once I thought we might actually have as many women as men win Nobel Prizes this year. It was shaping up so well-two women and one man won the Nobel Prize for Medicine, then two men and one woman won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. 3 men won the Nobel Prize for Physics, but a woman won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and there were two more prizes left. If women won them both…and they said Piedad Cordoba was the front runner… oh well.
We’ll have to see about the Nobel Prize for Economics this Monday.
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votermom says:
I read a funny comment somewhere that maybe it was a defensive measure by Sweden to keep BO from nuking them for not getting the Olympics.
LOL.
Except of course the idiotic award committee is Norwegian. -
Lorenzo says:
He got the Prize for being the first black US President and Not Being Dubya.
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Violet says:
Armando is saying he should turn it down. Heh.
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TheOtherDelphyne says:
I’m with yttik - cue the Twilight Zone music. I am almost speechless. All that I keep thinking is what a sham all of this - the primaries, the election, the “historic” crap, the “hope” crap, and now the Nobel Peace Prize for doing squat?
I’m ready to move to Siberia and study with a shamaness for a glimpse into reality because reality doesn’t seem to exist in the US any longer.
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RKMK says:
From here:
a stunning decision designed to encourage his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism
The Nobel Committee lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama’s calls for peace and cooperation but recognized initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.
Sorry, isn’t HRC doing most of the heavy lifting on that front?
Also, I can’t believe President Empty Suit beat out this woman. ANGRY FACE.
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Violet says:
Best line yet: over at Lawyers, Guns & Money they’re predicting that Obama will win the Cy Young Award.
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Violet says:
Mark it now: I’m predicting that Obama will win every award there is. MVP. Cy Young. The Heisman Trophy.
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yttik says:
It’s the Nobel Prize for Whirled Peas.
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jael says:
Oh lord, he Should. Turn it down. That’d be the Right thing to do. Also, politically savvy.
I’m not sure I can coherently articulate anything just…
What in Dog’s name is happening to the world?Also - I’m not sure getting American’s to dream again is, in and of itself, Peace building. If he’d gotten American’s and Another Party to dream together in unison (other than for just one moment post the election when the hold world loved you for just an instant) i think maybe, possibly, kinda possible to maybe, with enormous leaps and stretches, a little bit justify. It’s not even like All American’s are dreaming the damn dream anyway..
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RKMK says:
I’d actually respect him more if he did. Hiss.
I was venting on Twitter, and someone said his “historic election” was equal to, like, creating the League of Nations, and/or negotiating the Suez Peace settlement.
WHATEVER. WHAT. EVER.
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Lily says:
I’ve been reading comments at the NYT site, and the supportive ones sound just like the usual Obama praise, along the lines of “he makes me DREAM again!”
I’m guessing he’s rehired some of those paid supporters he had in the primaries.
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bygones says:
He is assuredly going to get the “Man of the Year” award from Time Magazine followed by the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue due out in Feb.
After all, if he can be selected as the “new face of feminism” (with nothing to back up that statement) the horizon is unlimited.
The unending adulation is beginning to wear off for many who think that this one has just gone too far over the edge of credulity.
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janicen says:
I’m not sure how to react to this. I’m thinking that maybe the Nobel Committee is trying to tell us that, even though he’s been a pretty crappy president so far, pleeeeease, America, don’t give us another Republican because Bush was really that bad. I dunno, I’m reading the Clinton Tapes and learning that some really bad stuff happens behind the scenes, and we are not told about it, so maybe Obama wins the prize for not being Bush. That’s about all I can figure.
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Bella Donna says:
From my twitter feed: This just in: Obama wins Pulitzer Prize, 2 Oscars, 6 Grammys, a Teen’s Choice award and is somehow crowned Miss America.
Yes, that’s about right.
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Nadai says:
This is so surreal, I can’t even get angry about it. Peace Prize. Peace Price. What the fucking fuck?
Someone at the Confluence commented that The Onion should put up a headline reading ‘Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize’. That would make my year.
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alwaysfiredup says:
I bet Hillary is just pulling her hair out right now. Damn that Golden Boy.
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votermom says:
It stinks that they gave it to Carter, Gore, now BO and not to Bill Clinton.
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Violet says:
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gxm17 says:
Lorenzo is right. Obama won the NPP for his “historic” election. There is really no other reason. He was nominated two short weeks after the election. I just wish they’d been honest about why and not tried to make shit up.
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alwaysfiredup says:
Meanwhile, Obama’s adviser on Muslim affairs thinks Sharia law is liberating for Muslim women.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....stood.html
Awesome. Aren’t there any more awards we can bestow on this prince of men?
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RKMK says:
votermom says:
It stinks that they gave it to Carter, Gore, now BO and not to Bill Clinton.
Or Hillary Clinton, who’s been doing the lion share of the actual work of the diplomatic initiatives he’s being lauded for.
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votermom says:
This is too funny (see bottom of article):
The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided not to inform Obama before the announcement because it didn’t want to wake him up, committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said.
“Waking up a president in the middle of the night, this isn’t really something you do,” Jagland said.
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TheOtherDelphyne says:
I’m still stupefied by this, Violet. I wonder if it will wear off….
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Violet says:
Okay, people. We are now officially through the looking glass:
On the domestic front, Obama’s new image as a Nobel Peace Prize winner will most directly affect the ongoing debate over troop levels in Afghanistan….
Winning the Nobel Prize will allow Obama to go to his divided Democratic caucus and make the case far more forcefully that the time is now to stay united behind him on Afghanistan. It isn’t a silver bullet solution as many liberal members have strongly held beliefs on the issue that aren’t likely to change simply because Obama is a Nobel Prize winner, but for many who are on the fence, the prize may be just the thing that pushes them onto Obama’s side.
War is Peace.
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42nd Wave Feminist says:
Check out this article at the AP. It kinda makes the whole thing make more sense.
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yttik says:
It’s chilling, Violet. In a twist of irony, Obama will use this prize to appease his anti-war contingent and to rally more support for the wars in Iraq, Afganistan, possibly Pakinstan, Iran, Somalia….
But hey, what better way to honor Dr. Alfred Nobel, the man who made his fortune manufacturing weapons for the defense industry.
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SYD says:
This Obamaphilia has grown into an international embarrassment.
What else can be said?
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monchichipox says:
I’m getting some cold comfort in the fact that all the blogs and newsites I read have comment sections pretty much filled with humorous jabs at the award. Especially politico.
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monchichipox says:
OK OK I think I’ve finally got something. Though it’s not up to my usual:
Is Kanye West pissed that Beyonce didn’t get the award?
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cgeye says:
You mean… the Nobel Committee thought he couldn’t handle the phone call at 3 AM?
I’m sorry, but even for good news? That’s just sad.
At least waking him up would have allowed his team to fum-fuh some new initiative that would at least make him look Presidential, in response.
When the N.C. also have to handle him delicately, at the expense of making him look awkward, we know something’s wrong with the Presidency as we accept it.
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janicen says:
Hubby said he read on a blog that the nobel ballots had to be submitted by sometime in February. If that’s the case, Obama had been in office how long?
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RKMK says:
Like, two weeks.
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janicen says:
Okay, 42nd Wave’s link @35 confirms that the nominations have to be submitted no later than Feb 1 and that a well organized campaign can sway votes.
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42nd Wave Feminist says:
It also says that the award isn’t given to people who have done stuff, but to encourage people to do stuff. (Last Myth in the list).
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Violet says:
It also says that the award isn’t given to people who have done stuff, but to encourage people to do stuff. (Last Myth in the list).
My foot. You have to have worked at something, made an effort. Otherwise they’d just routinely give Nobel Peace Prizes to every world leader.
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quixote says:
“War is Peace.”
Yup. It’s all over now, Baby Blue.
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quixote says:
As they said over at Electric Blues:if the award was for not being Bush, he doesn’t deserve it for that either.
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Carmonn says:
Who was on the committee this year, Christopher Hitchens and the Oslo chapter of Guys Turned on By Violence? They’re going to bring back camp followers, they’ll all be watching, giggling, and high fiving as Obama carpet bombs Afghanistan (the latest rumor).
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quixote says:
Didn’t Kissinger get the Peace Prize? Admittedly, he had actually *done* something. It just wasn’t very peaceful.
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Violet says:
Yes he did, and I well remember the grown-ups being shocked. Though at least he had sort-of negotiated a sort-of peace (albeit after waging merciless war and bombing the shit out of Cambodia).
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myiq2xu says:
The DNC adopts the “you’re with us or you’re with the terrorists policy of George Bush:
“The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists - the Taliban and Hamas this morning - in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse told POLITICO. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize - an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride - unless of course you are the Republican Party.”
We are all now Republicans and terrorists.
BTW - How does someone “take great pride” in an undeserved honor? The proper reaction is not pride or even humility (“I am humbled”) The proper reaction should be embarrassment - “I don’t deserve this and cannot accept it”
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Violet says:
Quixote:
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LabRat says:
This whole thing makes me feel like I’ve taken a tackhammer to the frontal bones.
My reality has deteriorated to the point where I can’t objectively tell it from an Onion article, and it’s seriously disorienting.
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Violet says:
I’m so tired of being right.
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Nessum says:
List of Committee members who chose the recipient:
Four out of the five member committee are women. That’s just sad!
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Simon Kenton says:
Labrat -
My reality has deteriorated to the point where I can’t objectively tell it from an Onion article, and it’s seriously disorienting.
Got it in one. It’s like we’ve been warped into Bizarro World. The wish is no longer father to the deed, the wish IS the deed.
So. Illustrious foreigners believe he is in a class with Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, and Yassir Arafat.
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myiq2xu says:
My reality has deteriorated to the point where I can’t objectively tell it from an Onion article, and it’s seriously disorienting.
Reality is for people who can’t handle drugs.
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riverdaughter says:
Quick! Someone put together a video of Kanye West swiping the Nobel from Obama’s hands and going off on how Beyonce had the best peace initiative of all time!
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Tom Delay Returns and Wins Dancing With the Stars! « AROOO says:
[...] Dr. Socks elaborates. [...]
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Violet says:
Quick! Someone put together a video of Kanye West swiping the Nobel from Obama’s hands and going off on how Beyonce had the best peace initiative of all time!
I’m sure it’s already happening. 47% of all Twitter jokes this morning were on that very theme (including mine).
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Violet says:
And speaking of Twitter — Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize: 69% of Twitter Users Don’t Get It
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yttik says:
We put him into office hoping that once he had the title of president he would work to fill his empty suit and blank resume. That’s what the Nobel Committee has done too, they’ve given him the award in the hopes that he lives up to it.
Hope really is a four letter word. Ask a battered woman how dangerous it can be.
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NOBELOL « The Confluence says:
[...] BTD at TalkLeft, Lambert and the gang at at Corrente, Violet Socks at Reclusive Leftist . . . you get the [...]
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monchichipox says:
Damn twitter beat me to the Kanye West joke.
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Violet says:
I downloaded TweetDeck and started using it today for the first time. Interesting coincidence, given the twitter onslaught today over the Nobel news.
At any rate, I’m following this story on Twitter, and it’s illuminating. Most people are rolling their eyes at the news. The pro-Obama tweets are almost all of a strangely adolescent quality:
“OMG, I just got the new right now, Barack Obama is the new Peace Nobel Prize. That’s so great, I JUST LOVE HIM, i don’t know… feel proud”“i’m so mad at all the HATERS who criticize Obama’s peace prize…you are all so full of HATE”
“should people who haven’t won a peace prize really be criticizing someone who has???”
Of course it could just be that Obama’s intelligent, mature supporters tend to keep their mouths shut. -
quixote says:
(Thanks for digging up that clip, Violet! At least now I’m to the point of wanting to cry.)
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dale says:
Obama will never turn it down. It strokes his massive ego too much.
I really do believe he’s a clinical narcissist. I think that’s the worst thing for a leader to be. Henry VIII was one. Wasn’t he lovely?
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votermom says:
Of course it could just be that Obama’s intelligent, mature supporters tend to keep their mouths shut.
I think that must be it. On my lj are way too many BO voters, but only one has posted a happy omg sort of post about it. The rest: one posted a noncommittal “never would have guessed” another posted a “seems premature”. So I am thinking most of them are keeping mum but thinking wtf.
I asked my 12yo if she heard about it. She said yes, their social studies teacher said “Pres. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. I don’t understand what for.”
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m Andrea says:
I found this comment from one of the links:
How can you be a judge of peace when you are creating dissent and disease? What have you done for peace? Are you even on the panel that awards this prestige? At least this man has been committed to bringing peace since he was a senator in Chicago.. that’s a lot more than most of the people on twitter I would say.
All this disrespect for a president in a turbulent time is not helping people. You get what you put out there.. know this.
I hear that sentiment frequently from Obots, not just in response to this particular issue. All the other recipients of the Noble managed to accomplish something extraordinary *in spite of* there being opposition to their goal. The obamabots believe that Obama cannot achieve anything if he *has* opposition, and it’s rilly twerible that we’re expecting Obama to cope with challenges in the same way that everyone can.
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Violet says:
I asked my 12yo if she heard about it. She said yes, their social studies teacher said “Pres. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. I don’t understand what for.”
And that is the great undeniable truth about this whole thing. This is the first Nobel Peace Prize in my memory where everyone’s initial reaction was, “But why? What did he do???” You had to read the articles and press release to figure out what it was that Obama had allegedly done to earn this award.
The Obamabots are beginning to pull themselves together on this, starting in with the mantra that anyone who questions the award is a racist or a Republican or a humbug. But this morning they were as shocked and bewildered as anyone. “What did he get it for?”
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Violet says:
mAndrea, please don’t do the fake baby talk. That really annoys me.
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Violet says:
Excellent post by Peter Beinart:
The Nobel Prize Committee should be in the business of conferring celebrity on unknown human-rights and peace activists toiling in the most god-forsaken parts of the world; the people who really need the attention (and even the money). It should be in the business of angering powerful tyrants by giving their victims a moment in the sun. Choosing Barack Obama, who practically orbits the sun already, accomplishes the exact opposite of that.
Exactly. The women risking their lives for peace, the doctors treating Congo rape victims — who cares about them? Much more fun to give another gold star to Barack Obama!
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myiq2xu says:
This is the first Nobel Peace Prize in my memory where everyone’s initial reaction was, “But why? What did he do???”
The awards to Kissinger and Arafat were controversial, but at least *some* people thought they were deserved.
Even Obama supporters don’t think he deserved it (but they’re still happy because it upset the wingnuts and the non-Kool-aid lefties)
BTW - I called my 74-year old mother this morning and told her Obama won the NPP and she said “For what?” I said the big one, the “Peace” prize, and she said “Yeah, I got that. What did he do?”
I told her I’d have to call her back with the answer.
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gxm17 says:
Violet said:
War is Peace.
Yep. Orwell was only 25 years off.
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Violet says:
The awards to Kissinger and Arafat were controversial, but at least *some* people thought they were deserved.
But even the many people who thought those awards weren’t deserved still knew why they had been given. No confusion at all. Paris peace talks, Middle East accords. Even with Al Gore, even Republicans understood immediately that it was for his work on global warming.
With Obama, everybody was going, “But…why????”
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KatCann says:
gxm17 says:
Yep. Orwell was only 25 years off.No, people always say this, but why do they assume that 1984 is in the Gregorian Calendar?
1984 is the year, as stated in the book, but why not in the “Orwellian” Calendar which could be any year, we just don’t know. It could be now. Certainly seems like it.
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myiq2xu says:
With Obama, everybody was going, “But…why????”
I started saying that last year when the Kool-aid conga line started forming.
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yttik says:
I think this is so disturbing because it is evidence of the astroturf campaign going global. Even those who support Obama are shocked with the prize. As one of the Obama supporting moms told me at school today, “it just feels so phony.”
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KatCann says:
how we do quotes on here, please Violet? (or anyone)I tried blockquote and quote in square brackets (as other wordpress blogs) neither worked in preview so I settled on and that didn’t work either. thanks.
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Violet says:
It’s the same as all WordPress blogs — and it’s not square brackets. It’s pointy brackets. Greater-than and lesser-than signs.
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Violet says:
Basic html tags are enclosed with pointy brackets like this:
<blockquote> quote </blockquote>
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Mary Tracy9 says:
“We put him into office hoping that once he had the title of president he would work to fill his empty suit and blank resume. That’s what the Nobel Committee has done too, they’ve given him the award in the hopes that he lives up to it.”
Let me see if I get this right. Obama was chosen president of the US in the hopes that he lives up to it. He was put on the cover of Ms magazine posing as a superheroe feminist in the hopes that he lives up to it. Now he’s given the Nobel Peace Prize in the hopes that he lives up to it.
This is not “hope”, it’s plain delusion.
The man is a walking infomercial. The “Obama” brand is the most successful marketing campaign in history.(I am so glad this blog exists, Violet must be the only sane voice in the Feminist Blogosphere)
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yttik says:
You got that right, Mary Tracy9. Hope has reared it’s ugly head. Hope can indeed be delusional and dangerous.
LOL, trust me it’s a thankless job running around trying to advocate that people give up hope, but hope is what keeps women stuck in abusive marriages. Hope is what gets the electricity shut off. Hope keeps alcoholics drinking. And hope is what has put this empty suit into office and gave him the Nobel prize.
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KatCann says:
It’s the same as all WordPress blogs — and it’s not square brackets. It’s pointy brackets. Greater-than and lesser-than signs.
oh, thanks Violet. I must be getting mixed up with something else regarding the square brackets.
Pointy ones it is! :) -
Gayle says:
I had to take a tranquilizer this morning as I was about to head in for a medical procedure. My husband announced the news while I was under the influence.
My response: I giggled stupidly.
“No, I’m serious” he said. They’re talking about it downstairs on tv.
My dazed reply: But why?
“That’s what they’re asking. Why?”
It does seem to be preemptive. Do they really believe giving an award will make a person behave differently in the future? I’ve never heard of such a thing happening before. Maybe he really is getting it simply because he’s not GW Bush.
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Adrienne in CA says:
Hadn’t paid any attention to the makeup of the committee before. They’re all politicos of one party or another. All members or former members of the ‘Storting’ — the Norwegian Parliament. It would be like five US Senators getting together to award a prize. How meaningful would that be?
*****A
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Ciccina says:
gxm17 says:
Yep. Orwell was only 25 years off.
No, people always say this, but why do they assume that 1984 is in the Gregorian Calendar?Actually, “1984″ is a play on the year “1948.” The book is in large part about politics in Britain in 1948. The switching sides - Stalin transformed from ally to arch-enemy - the deprivation, the propagandizing. Orwell was working for the BBC, which censored a lot of information; Room 101 (if I remember correctly) was an actual office in the BBC HQ where they developed propaganda.
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Kiuku says:
It’s obvious, guys. He gets the prize for being The Unicorn.
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LabRat says:
I just spent ten minutes of my life I’ll never get back watching people in Scalzi’s thread make the serious argument that he really DOES deserve it for not being George Bush. The logic was that he made the world see that the Bush years were just an aberration after all.
Upgrade that tackhammer to a jackhammer. I need alcohol.
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Hedgepig says:
When Kissinger won the prize, the satirical song-writer Tom Lehrer declared that political satire was now obsolete. And that was in 1973. I’m with the commenter who’d like to see an Onion headline Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize. That would be perfect satire!!
To Monchichipox: I don’t do Twitter so I laughed at your Kayne West joke. -
KatCann says:
Actually, “1984″ is a play on the year “1948.” The book is in large part about politics in Britain in 1948. The switching sides - Stalin transformed from ally to arch-enemy - the deprivation, the propagandizing. Orwell was working for the BBC, which censored a lot of information; Room 101 (if I remember correctly) was an actual office in the BBC HQ where they developed propaganda.
correct on all points :)
Yes Room 101 was an actual office, and also spawned a namesake BBC TV series, But I don’t think that detracts from the timeless aspect of the book. What I meant was, is that I don’t think Orwell intended it to mean the year of 1984 as we know it regardless of why he chose that number.
All a bit off topic but I am lost for words about why Zero won the Nobel Speech Prize.
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Violet says:
Because he’s My Dream Pony.
In other news, I just added some tag instructions to the top of the comment form, since KatCann isn’t the first person to ask for help.
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octogalore says:
I have been wondering — if HRC had won, would she have even been nominated? (Given that nominations closed Feb 1, the nomination of Obama wasn’t based on his substantive record as President, such as it is, but on his campaign — a series of scriped performances — and subsequent victory.)
I guess it’s pretty clear what the answer is.
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Unree says:
THANK you, Violet. Other feminist blogs have been shamefully silent.
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Violet says:
Other feminist blogs have been shamefully silent.
Not entirely. Via Memeorandum I saw two posts. Liza at CultureKitchen greeted the news as a thrilling opportunity to watch Republican heads explode. (Liza spent all of 2008 with a giant jpeg of a candle flame for Obama on the front page of her blog, so you know where she’s coming from.) Jill at Feministe was also happy, but she did acknowledge that Obama “has a lot left to accomplish when it comes to promoting peace.” As in everything? I muse to myself. Jill didn’t mention Iraq or Afghanistan at all, which I found hilarious. Also: it’s sad that people are so racist they can’t be happy for the President. All in all, kind of a typical Feministe poste.
Egalia at Tennessee Guerilla Women has a good post up: http://guerillawomentn.blogspo.....e-not.html
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Sis says:
The Nobel has no meaning. It hasn’t for some time. The Nobel in medicine last time was bought by industry.
Did the committee tune out during the U.S. election, when he sanctioned and led on wholescale women-hating? Peace. To all men.
If it wasn’t clear from the last handouts that the Nobel has been commercialized, it is now.
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sonrisa says:
this not only cheapens the Nobel Prize, it turns it into a bad, disgusting joke
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Ciccina says:
Anglachel has a good post on this as well:
http://anglachelg.blogspot.com.....union.html
My opinion: Obama is already rueing the day the Nobel committee got that gleam in its collective eye. Not that this was their intent - far from it - but their assumption that he’d be doing great things by now has totally embarrassed him. That is, if a man with a Jurassic-sized ego can feel embarrassment. I’m of the impression that he intended to just tread water, to obfuscate, on Afghanistan and everything else until 2011 put him back in his comfort zone (out on the campaign trail, belittling some uppity female).
I agree Sonrisa - what makes me sad is that this cheapens the Nobel Peace Prize for those who’ve won it and actually deserved it.
But beyond that I’m rather enjoying the spectacle of Obama’s people trying to justify the award.
For the first time in… forever, really, I plan to watch SNL - just to see what they do with this.
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monchichipox says:
The reason it’s bad for him is that it finally shines a light on a lie. Those on the fence or slightly in Obama camp had the big question thrown in their face “why?” and that question is seeping into other aspects of his presidency. It’s not a good question for him right now.
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Grace says:
This whole Nobel prize business sounds like the theater of the absurd. Is this a set-up for Obama? to pressure him to do the things he claimed he was going to do in his campaign speeches last year? It follows the same absurd logic that if a student got an A before turning in the paper. And since they are at it, may be MO should get a prize for her exemplary life-long fight for the rights of women,or George W. Bush for being the best reader of goat stories.
LOL -
Violet says:
But beyond that I’m rather enjoying the spectacle of Obama’s people trying to justify the award.
I’m interested by the things people come up with. Once again, I get the impression that Obama’s supporters are incredibly young. And I don’t just mean on Twitter; blog posts too. People are listing things that all American presidents do: attend summits, address the U.N., make noises about international cooperation, etc. Obama has just been marking off the usual checkboxes so far. Yet people are reciting these things as if they were bold, novel gestures. How old are these people?
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Topper Harley says:
@65 Of course it could just be that Obama’s intelligent, mature supporters tend to keep their mouths shut.
What? All four of them?
Here’s the list that I’ve seen of the other nominees:
Chinese Human Rights Activist Hu Jia - imprisoned for campaigning for human rights in the PRC, not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.
Wei Jingsheng, who spent 17 years in Chinese prisons for urging reforms of China’s communist system. — not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama. (Not to mention the symbolic value of awarding a Chinese dissident on the 20th Anniversary of the Tianenmen Square Massacre.)
Greg Mortenson, founder of the Central Asia Institute has built nearly 80 schools, especially for girls, in remote areas of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past 15 years - not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, a philosophy professor in Jordan who risks his life by advocating interfaith dialogue between Jews and Muslims, also not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.
Afghan human rights activist Sima Samar. She currently leads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and serves as the U.N. special envoy to Darfur and is apparently also not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.
As an aside, here’s why Greg does what he does:
Mortenson believes that education and literacy for girls globally is the most important investment all countries can make to create stability, bring socio-economic reform, decrease infant mortality, decrease the population explosion, and improve health, hygiene, and sanitation standards globally -
Jen the Michigander says:
I think Obama supporters are stupid and brainwashed, not necessarily young. The most diehard obots that I know personally are baby boomers, not college kids. And I’ve encountered many intelligent, politically astute teens and twentysomethings around the PUMAsphere.
The reason why Obama supporters seem so young is because their mental age is frozen at that Pollyanna-ish magical thinking level where they believe if you think happy thoughts, all your troubles will fade away. A lot of rock stars fall into this category– they think writing a song and staging a massive concert will feed the hungry and end all wars. Few of them want to be bothered with the actual work that must be done over a period of decades in order to achieve these lofty goals. No, they just want to sing a song and everything will be groovy. But if you confront people like this with a dose of reality, they get really angry and throw a temper tantrum. Again, it comes down to their mental age. You cannot reason with them, because they’re children.
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Jeff says:
“You cannot reason with them, because they’re children.”
Children with keys to the car, the liquor cabinet, and the trigger locks.
And the safe-deposit box.
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Swannie says:
I was watching BO give his little speech this morning with the sound off .. I often do that because I cannot stand the sound of his voice .. and to me , that his body language seemed petulant and impatient , and almost put upon . Like the ungrateful kid who gets the ” wrong present” at Christmas but fakes being grateful anyway
…as if he were thinknig but I REALLY WANTED the OLYMPICS ; not the stupid peace prize..but maybe that is just me …
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Unree says:
The reason why Obama supporters seem so young is because their mental age is frozen at that Pollyanna-ish magical thinking level where they believe if you think happy thoughts, all your troubles will fade away.
I think what you’re saying is right, but much too benign as a general explanation. The only reason these supporters ever heard of this hopey-changey offering is that it was a convenient packaging for misogyny and corporate welfare. The wrapper is very thin; it takes more than just naive optimism to go for it. You have to either buy into the agenda of Obama’s handlers or willfully miss what’s going on.
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Kookaburra says:
Violet, I was reading through the archives of ibtp, and I came across this comment of yours, from June 15, 2007:
Contrary to popular belief, psycho assholes don’t always look like ‘Daryl’, the lazy, gold-chain wearing, hairy, beer-bellied, redneck “loser” from ‘Thelma and Louise’. Just as often they are “laid back” liberal dudes who iron (insert Nobel Prize here) their own shirts.
Eerily prescient.
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Violet says:
I did not write that. That’s a different Violet. No idea who she is.
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octogalore says:
WTF is right.
With one of President Obama’s handpicked advisors equating Sharia Law with “gender justice,” I have to wonder if “peace” awards actually are meant to encompass justice for both genders.
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Kookaburra says:
Oh, damn. I did think it was hilarious because I could totally see Obama whining that he was an equalist becaus Michelle doesn’t iron his shirts.
On another board I frequent, I cracked a joke about it being a consolation prize for losing the Olympics. I then went to bed. When I got up this afternoon, there were lots of replies calling me a complete idiot because obviously the Olympics aren’t in Norway, and it’s not a bad thing that HRC (who is DOING the work) or another woman didn’t get it because it’s not like they can’t win NEXT year.
Oy vey! Obots man. I don’t have any patience at all. Thank you, Violet, for being a voice of sanity among the madding crowd.
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Kookaburra says:
Hey something else I’ve noticed, all of the arguments for defending the award seem to go something like this:
1. The Prize is for the Cairo speech.
2. Oh, he was nominated before then? Well, it was for his work on nuclear non-proliferation while he was on the Senate.
3. How dare you actually expect me to tell you exactly what he did while on the Senate for nuclear non-proliferation!Sooo, Violet, since you are so much more savvy than I am at politics, can you answer what, exactly he did “against” nuclear proliferation. I looked on Wikipedia, but all I can find are acts and motions that he was involved in, but certainly was not the primary mover-and-shaker.
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Briar says:
This is what Mairead Maguire thinks, speaking for millions of Europeans who are just as baffled as any American:
http://ireland.indymedia.org/article/94396
Speaking from Belfast regarding the NPP Award to President Obama, Nobel Peace Laureate, Mairead Maguire, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in l976. said:
‘I am very disappointed to hear that the Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama.
They say this is for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples, and yet he continues the policy of militarism and occupation of Afghanistan, instead of dialogue and negotiations with all parties to the conflict.
I believe the award is premature.
Furthermore,I believe the Nobel Committee has not met the conditions of Alfred Nobel’s will where he stipulates it is to be awarded to those who work for an end to
militarism and war, and for disarmament. This is not the first time the Nobel Peace Committee in Oslo has ignored the will of Alfred Nobel and acted against the spirit of what the Nobel Peace Prize is all about.Giving this award to the Leader of the most militarized country in the world, which has taken the human family, against its will, to war will be rightly seen by many people around the world, as a reward for his country’s aggression and domination’.
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Swannie says:
I thought BO looked petulant and now I know why … he didnt want the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE he wanted to be the first person canonized as a saint while still living ;)
Pope canonizes leper saint Damien, hailed by Obama
Sun Oct 11, 2009 7:57am EDTVATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict created five saints on Sunday including Belgian priest Damien who worked and died among Hawaiian lepers, earning the admiration of President Barack Obama who sent a message hailing Damien’s canonization.
The U.S. president was born in Hawaii, where Damien worked in the leper colony of Molokai, caught leprosy and died in 1889. Obama said in a statement that Damien had “a special place in the hearts of Hawaiians.”“I recall many stories from my youth about his tireless work there to care for those suffering from leprosy who had been cast out,” Obama said, adding that the priest had “challenged the stigmatizing effects” of the disfiguring disease.
“In our own time as millions around the world suffer from disease, especially the pandemic of HIV/AIDS, we should draw on the example of Fr. Damien’s resolve in answering the urgent call to heal and care for the sick,” the president said.
read the rest herehttp://www.reuters.com/article.....YW20091011
wow the BO even mentioned the word work , but wait it is actually because he is simply politisizing The LEPER SAINT to sell his health care .. there is now proof that there is no level beneath which this guy will not stoop ; and this is the recipient of a PEACE PRIZE
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monchichipox says:
I still can’t find the words. I try but end up just kind of babbling like Aunt Clara from Bewtiched. Maybe I’ll start collecting door knobs.
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Anwyn says:
Two thoughts kept coming up reading all the replies:
1. I keep getting the feeling that the real reason Obama was awarded the peace prize was as some sort of afirmation that the USA Done The Right Thing TM by electing a black man. Which got me thinking - any other nation, where power was held predominantly by white people, with an impovrished black underclass, in an inherently racist society, that eventually elected a black president, and that president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? Yup, there is a precedent, but I’m pretty sure Nelson Mandela was awarded the prize for leading his country to the point where apartheid was dismantled and all South Africans got the right to vote without having a civil war to acheive it. Not because he won an election.
2. About hope - remember the old story about Pandora’s box? Never fails to amuse me how people just don’t get the meaning of the story. Let me refresh your memory - the gods create a woman called Pandora and give her to one of 2 brothers as a wife. (The other brother wound up chained to a rock having his liver torn out daily by an eagle, just to put things in perspective.) As a marriage gift, they give her a ‘box’ (originally it was a sealed amphora i.e. a ceramic bottle) and told her she couldn’t open it. Now, the gods made her and knew that she was insatiably curious, so it was a loaded gift on every level. She opened the amphora, in which was held all the evils of the world, slamming the bung back in when she realised what was happening, trapping hope in the bottle, thus hope is still with us.
Except people keep presenting this as a sort of happy ending: “Hey, we’ve got death, disease, war, misery, hunger, famine, hatred, jealousy, anger, all that stuff, but don’t forget we’ve still got hope! Hope will see us through!” They miss the point - hope was one of the evils of the world, and we are doubly damned because instead of letting it go we keep it hugged to our chests. Instead of fixing things, we keep going on with the illusion of hope. Those Ancient Greeks really knew their irony. -
Nobel Peace Prize opinion roundup « Churchmouse Campanologist says:
[...] Reclusive Leftist – ‘I thought the Nobel Peace Prize was for actually doing something…: ‘The Nobel Peace Prize is not the People’s Choice Award, for god’s sake. It’s the kind of thing you get for stopping wars and brokering armistices. It’s the kind of thing you get for a lifetime of working for peace and human rights … What has he done? He’s done nothing.’ [...]
