Thread: Nobel peace prize

>>Warning - Long Post Follows<<

Here is the site for the Nobel Foundation: http://nobelprize.org

For those that do not know, Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite, among other things:

"His research embraced many new fields offered by the fast-growing industrial society. A goodly number of Nobel's inventions were of a peaceful nature and his research in synthetics was particularly important. He developed substitutes for crude rubber and leather, as well as nitrocellulose-based varnishes. He was involved in the production of artificial silk, took out a patent for the manufacture of perforated glass nozzles, and had the world's first aluminum boat built. Nobel also designed a boiler which could withstand explosions. He helped finance S.A. Andrée's balloon expedition to the North Pole and also invested money in the manufacture of a bicycle ("the Svea bicycle"). At his death, Alfred Nobel was the holder of 355 patents."

He was also a pacifist at heart and understood Mutually Assured Destruction before it was even thought possible:

"My factories may perhaps put an end to war sooner than your congresses.
The day when two army corps will be able to destroy each other in one second,
all civilised nations will recoil from war in horror and disband their armies."
- A. Nobel, 1892

Many believe he left his fortune for the prizes as a way of remedying the damage caused by the use of dynamite for other than construction, mining, etc.

Shockingly enough, Hitler was nominated in 1939, while Chancellor of Germany. However, nomination does not mean you will win.

Also, President Carter did not win the award until 2002....long after the Camp David accords. His award was for much more: "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development"

There was also a comment regarding arrafat being awarded the Peace Prize...that is partially true...he shared it...with Shimon Perez and Yitzhak Rabin: "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East".

Let's not condemn the prizes or compare them with tawdry popularity or sales contests such magazine contests or the Grammy's (you did know the Grammys are based on record sales?) simply because we may not agree with the awardee...that is puerile. As for the comment that Gore lobbied the committee...that would disqualify him (you can't nominate yourself)...I certainly the source for that quote was someone other than Rush Limbaugh....to me he lost all credibility after the drug abuse and his condemning soldiers who do not support Bush "phony soldiers"...this from a man who has never warn a uniform for this nation. The US military swears to defend the Constitution. The last major Army I know of to take an oath of allegiance to a person over the State was the Wehrmacht...to Adolph Hitler.

Anyway, if the above site does not have enough info, there is one last chunk, explaining how "global warming" and "peace" are related:
"The Norwegian Nobel Committee said global warming, 'may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth's resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world's most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states."
. . . Jan Egeland, a Norwegian peace mediator and former U.N. undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, also called climate change more than an environmental issue.
"It is a question of war and peace,' said Egeland, now director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in Oslo. 'We're already seeing the first climate wars, in the Sahel belt of Africa.' He said nomads and herders are in conflict with farmers because the changing climate has brought drought and a shortage of fertile lands."

Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater......

Greg

I just wonder what campaigning for climate awareness has to do with making peace. Whether you like Arafat and Georgia's most famous peanut grower or not: they at least tried to negotiate peace in the Middle East with the then P.M. of Isreal (Perez?).

IMHO there haven't been many people trying successfully to make peace anywhere in the world last year so the Nobel Peace Prize committee must have thought: "Who else is doing a good job in our opinion to deserve a prize?"

Originally Posted by Kees

I just wonder what campaigning for climate awareness has to do with making peace. Whether you like Arafat and Georgia's most famous peanut grower or not: they at least tried to negotiate peace in the Middle East with the then P.M. of Isreal (Perez?).

Yeah! my whole point was why Gore! as far as I can see he has done little to earn the reward!
as far as all the other topics that have sprung up out of this subject, lets keep those to a minimum ! It's getting a tad hot, lets cool it down a bit!

well, as i said before the logic seems
climate change -> scarcer resources -> more conflicts -> less peace
Gore's role:
pre-movie ->people don't care
post-movie -> some hype -> at least people are mindful -> may be politicians start changing policies -> may be avoid too drastic of a climate change

it's a preemptive award if you will

Why Al Gore?

well others didn't seem to have had the impact he had. Like it or not it he seems to have generated enough momentum. At least in the eyes of the Nobel peace committee

i thought one of the us presidents to win the prize was Wilson - he did the UN, or it's predecessor, may be that? I don't want to look it up - that'll be cheating.

Originally Posted by gugi

i thought one of the us presidents to win the prize was Wilson - he did the UN, or it's predecessor, may be that? I don't want to look it up - that'll be cheating.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner! That's one...one to go.

Woodrow Wilson was awarded the prize for founding the League of Nations after WWI. It turned into the United Nations.

So how about this angle - what do you guys think of the other peace prizes that ware awarded in the last few years.

I know that for some of you they probably just flew under the radar - after all who cares about Africa when peace prize after peace prize, the middle east is still at low intensity conflict/war...

I know everybody loves to see mother Theresa or Martin Luther King Jr awarded the prize, but what about the less known winners. Some are still in jail and the impact of some has reached many times more humans than the more popular recipients.

Just throwing it out there - every year I note the prizes, may because one of them is in my field, but I usually learn more things about the world and I find that the Nobel committee usually does pretty good job recognizing individuals who have contributed significantly to improving human life (sometimes not by ending wars, but by fostering peaceful development)

Originally Posted by Kees

I just wonder what campaigning for climate awareness has to do with making peace. Whether you like Arafat and Georgia's most famous peanut grower or not: they at least tried to negotiate peace in the Middle East with the then P.M. of Isreal (Perez?).

IMHO there haven't been many people trying successfully to make peace anywhere in the world last year so the Nobel Peace Prize committee must have thought: "Who else is doing a good job in our opinion to deserve a prize?"

That could very well be...there have been years when no one got the prize and the money was dumped back into the fund. Now that's a sad statement on humanity!

Greg

Originally Posted by WireBeard

there have been years when no one got the prize and the money was dumped back into the fund. Now that's a sad statement on humanity!

but at least gives more credibility to the committee and the award... that was during the wars I believe

Originally Posted by WireBeard

Let's not condemn the prizes or compare them with tawdry popularity or sales contests such magazine contests or the Grammy's (you did know the Grammys are based on record sales?) simply because we may not agree with the awardee...that is puerile.

Grammy's are based on record sales (is this totally true?)which are influenced by popular culture ---- feed people enough crappy music and do not expect much else and let fads run wild and you have it.

I don't think I'm far off here --- there are certain topics which are considered the "it topics" and within the "it topics" there are the "it people" --- Al Gore is one of those people issueing one of those topics. Why Al Gore? I know there has to be someone else who's been fighting for such causes longer than him just as I know there are more talented musicians and artists who never get awarded a Grammy or even noticed.

The baby is stinking ---- out with bath water you go .

Justin