Nobel Peace Prize Nominee...Al Gore?

[SamSpade]

Relax folks, basically anybody can be nominated for a Nobel peace prize.

Heck, Rush Limbaugh got nominated for the Peace Prize as well, and his greatest contribution to society has been selling "Club Gitmo" t-shirts and finding things to order at Denny's that aren't on the grand slam menu.

No joke:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-01-2007/0004518421&EDATE=

But admittedly - Rush was nominated by none other than radio talk show host Mark Levin's Landmark Foundation. While he may personally feel Rush deserves it, it's highly likely it was just a reaction to Gore's nomination.

And the thing is, you look over the list of winners, and most of them, especially prior to the 80's, were people you'd nominate yourself. Martin Luther King. Mother Theresa. Lech Walesa. UNICEF. Teddy Roosevelt. It's just it seems within the last ten years, it's become a political glamor show. When you can give a "peace prize" to someone whose most visible contribution to the world is terrorism - and continued to promote it until his death - the award becomes meaningless.

 

[SkinkTyree]

But admittedly - Rush was nominated by none other than radio talk show host Mark Levin's Landmark Foundation. While he may personally feel Rush deserves it, it's highly likely it was just a reaction to Gore's nomination.

And the thing is, you look over the list of winners, and most of them, especially prior to the 80's, were people you'd nominate yourself. Martin Luther King. Mother Theresa. Lech Walesa. UNICEF. Teddy Roosevelt. It's just it seems within the last ten years, it's become a political glamor show. When you can give a "peace prize" to someone whose most visible contribution to the world is terrorism - and continued to promote it until his death - the award becomes meaningless.

I think all in all, most of the winners have been deserving. True, there have been a few anamolies here and there, like Arafat and Kissinger. I think the biggest problem in those instances is that there might be a temptation to do a quick reaction to a recent event without putting it in further context. Perhaps there should be a certain "cooling off" waiting period before the committee makes its choice. Maybe five years, like the Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

[SamSpade]

I think all in all, most of the winners have been deserving. True, there have been a few anamolies here and there, like Arafat and Kissinger. I think the biggest problem in those instances is that there might be a temptation to do a quick reaction to a recent event without putting it in further context. Perhaps there should be a certain "cooling off" waiting period before the committee makes its choice. Maybe five years, like the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I don't know that I'd fault Kissinger - it was awarded right after he negotiated the Vietnam peace accords. Same goes for Teddy Roosevelt for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese war. Even if you don't like a guy, direct involvement in the ending of a war or state of war should merit attention - which is why Sadat and Begin deserved theirs. I believe people like Aung San Suu Kyi is heroic and deserved hers - she still languishes in prison while the government of Myanmar wants taxes owed on her prize. I doubt that people like Gorbachev, Carter or Shirin Ebadi deserved theirs - they seemed to be politically motivated.

 

[SkinkTyree]

I don't know that I'd fault Kissinger - it was awarded right after he negotiated the Vietnam peace accords. Same goes for Teddy Roosevelt for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese war. Even if you don't like a guy, direct involvement in the ending of a war or state of war should merit attention - which is why Sadat and Begin deserved theirs. I believe people like Aung San Suu Kyi is heroic and deserved hers - she still languishes in prison while the government of Myanmar wants taxes owed on her prize. I doubt that people like Gorbachev, Carter or Shirin Ebadi deserved theirs - they seemed to be politically motivated.

I think the question is whether the award should be viewed as an honor for a specific act or more as of a lifetime achievement award. If it is the former, I might agree with you that Kissinger deserved it. But if it is the latter, I don't know if I would agree with that, knowing his relationship with folks like Pinochet.

And perhaps there was some political motivation behind Carter's award in its timing (right before the Iraq War), but I do think he deserved it for the Camp David accords, at the least. Gorbachev less so--the credit goes to the people of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe for demanding the Glasnost reforms. Shirin Ebadi is too soon to tell, I think.

 

[vraiblonde]

I do think he deserved it for the Camp David accords, at the least

Yeah, because that worked out so well

 

[SkinkTyree]

Yeah, because that worked out so well

There's been no subsequent armed conflict between Egypt and Israel, the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt without incident, and passage through the Suez has remained free and open for all. So I would say yes, it did work out well as it relates to those two countries.