The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial this weekend entitled “Not Nobel Winners.” As the title implies, the Journal makes mention of all those who did not win the Nobel Peace Prize this year. It’s sad, the Nobel Prize has always been the one award show that people take notice of where feats more important than “Best Album” and “Best Male Lead” are honored, and it has become a forum for agenda setting. In his will, Alfred Nobel stated that the peace prize was to be awarded “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” I’m sorry, I don’t see how making millions profiteering a problem that may or may not exist fulfills this vision.
My problem giving the award to VP Gore is that there was a lot of good done in the past year. The WSJ notes people who have given their time, money, livelihood, and even their very lives opposing tyranny, organized crime, religious schisms, and discrimination to make their countries and the world a better place. These men and women did more than point out and profit off a problem they saw in society, they did something. I wish Oslo would de-politicize the award and actually give it to the most deserving.
Funny, I wrote about the Nobel Prize too.