The Observer, October 19, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 8
Unpopular Reason: Nobel Peace Prize has become a joke
Al Gore, in tandem with the United Nations climate panel, won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. At first glance, this seems absurd. On the one hand, climate has little to do with peace, and the award is usually reserved for those who broker peace deals or avert military crises. And, beyond that, there are mounds of scientific evidence, with plenty of vocal support from highly acclaimed and award-winning scientists that global warming is hyperbolic alarmism with little scientific merit, much like intelligent design. But alas, this is a topic unto itself, and one that will surely yield its own column. The focus here is on the Nobel Prize. Looking back at Nobel Prize winners and nominees, this year's half-baked choice is by no means a surprise. Some other winners include: Mohamed ElBaradei, Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, Yasser Arafat, Anwar Sadat, and Theodore Roosevelt. And nominees have included Benito Mussolini, Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro, and Stanley Tookie Williams. Now, in case any of these names don't ring a bell, I'll give you a quick review.
ElBaradei, acclaimed for his work in trying to prevent the American invasion of Iraq through weapons inspections, was not a serious candidate, but rather was given the award as a symbolic expression of opposition to an American presence there. Jimmy Carter was the American president that left American citizens as hostages to violent Islamic revolutionaries in Iran and would go on to author a widely decried, extremely anti-Semitic book that equated Israel to apartheid South Africa. Kofi Annan abused his
position as Secretary General of the United Nations to engage in the illegal laundering and profiteering of oil-for-food funds. Yasser Arafat was, until his fairly recent death, the leader of a terrorist organization that murdered thousands of innocent Israeli citizens, including women and children. Anwar Sadat led Egypt into its fourth aggressive war against Israel in 1973, and after being defeated by a militarily superior opponent, engaged in blackmail and coercion to regain territory Egypt had lost through conflicts it initiated. And Theodore Roosevelt fathered the Rough Riders, a group that pioneered military vigilantism.
But those are just the winners. We can't forget the equally, if not more disturbing, nominees. Mussolini incited brutal squadristi violence and went on to become a fascist dictator that oppressed his own people and backed Hitler's murderous regime. Hitler, nominated in 1938, had already imposed brutally anti-Semitic Nuremburg laws and made his goal of German expansion by any means necessary clear. He would go on to kill six million Jews and begin a World War in an effort to conquer Europe and crush those he felt to be undesirable. Joseph Stalin was responsible for 50 million deaths and some of the heaviest use of secret police and fake trials in world history. Moreover, he used his victory in World War II as an excuse to take over Eastern Europe and subject its people to the horrors of Soviet communism. Fidel Castro is now, and has been since the 1950s, the military dictator of Cuba. And, while we might not often think of Cuba as a military power, he contributed huge troop deployments to several foreign conflicts, most famously in Angola. They also helped fund and supply IRA and Palestinian terrorists, while providing asylum to members of the militant Black Panther Party convicted of felonies like murder and assault by American courts. And finally, Tookie is one of the founders of the Crips, one of the nation's most notorious and violent gangs, who himself was found guilty of first-degree murder.
With names like these, is it any wonder that the prize has become a joke, and lost its position of prestige? Alfred Nobel created the prize as a way of apologizing to the world for inventing something as destructive as dynamite. To see such depraved individuals continually considered for, and granted, the award, is to do a disservice to the man for whom the prize is named. So, though it doesn't shock me that Gore won, it disappoints me. While he isn't a genocidal maniac like some others before him, he certainly fell short of being fit for consideration, much less victory. It seems that the committee has opted to continue further sullying the name Nobel.
Caleb Posner is a freshman political science major.
