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Oct. 9th, 2009 08:02 pmI really hope that Barack Obama has been negotiating to great effect with Our Alien Friends, because otherwise...
I think that pour encourager les autres can be a good reason to give an award, even if it doesn't always work out (*cough* Israel/Palestine *cough*), but in general I would prefer recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize to be required to meet a slightly higher standard than "Probably not a multinational corporation stooge and warmonger". If I were the president of Switzerland I'd be very annoyed.
I don't expect the impossible or even the purely virtuous. If this had been a joint award to Martin McGuiness and the Rev. (Dr) Ian Paisley* I'd have said "Yes, they're both ex-terrorist/sympathisers, but they show a valuable political lesson in how the sociopolitical situation can re-invent itself and there are plenty of people who wouldn't have done that." With, of course, the privilege of not having lived in N. Ireland.
That's what happens when you give the Peace Prize to Norway...
*Does anyone else remember the Radio 4 (Dead Ringers?) sketch at a party, "The question is do I want sausages on sticks?"
[Ed. I also adore the inhabitants of Pandagon, who are oh so liberal and caring, until they are actually arguing that a 5 year old child who pets a strange dog deserves to have her face torn off for her temerity.]
I think that pour encourager les autres can be a good reason to give an award, even if it doesn't always work out (*cough* Israel/Palestine *cough*), but in general I would prefer recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize to be required to meet a slightly higher standard than "Probably not a multinational corporation stooge and warmonger". If I were the president of Switzerland I'd be very annoyed.
I don't expect the impossible or even the purely virtuous. If this had been a joint award to Martin McGuiness and the Rev. (Dr) Ian Paisley* I'd have said "Yes, they're both ex-terrorist/sympathisers, but they show a valuable political lesson in how the sociopolitical situation can re-invent itself and there are plenty of people who wouldn't have done that." With, of course, the privilege of not having lived in N. Ireland.
That's what happens when you give the Peace Prize to Norway...
*Does anyone else remember the Radio 4 (Dead Ringers?) sketch at a party, "The question is do I want sausages on sticks?"
[Ed. I also adore the inhabitants of Pandagon, who are oh so liberal and caring, until they are actually arguing that a 5 year old child who pets a strange dog deserves to have her face torn off for her temerity.]