To bring peace in the world is not a one person affair.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

(posted with permission from: http://sane-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/10/should-barack-obama-have-won-nobel.html

Note: This is not my opinion, or writing, but the author would like your opinion on this topic.

Should Barack Obama Have Won The Nobel Peace Prize?

"Yes," said the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee as they named him the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. But this upset others who call it a sham for Mr. Obama has brought peace no-where.

Who is right? You be the judge.

President Obama disregarded his campaign promises to get the U.S. out of the Iraq war within 16 months of taking office and instead he adapted President Bush's plan, as he continues the brutal U.S. military occupation there.

While in Afghanistan, he's escalated the war and continued its spread into Pakistan.

He's also continued America's War on Drugs, the fighting sometimes so fierce and the corruption from the vast sums of drug money so prevalent, it has cost many lives and endangers the governments of Mexico, Columbia and Brazil.

On the other hand, he is a charismatic, eloquent speaker in office a mere 9 months. Potentially, he could eventually help to bring peace somewhere.

But as for the Nobel Peace Prize, you and I have no voice. If the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee chose Charles Manson, that would be their business and that of Mr. Manson.

This Committee didn't ask for your or my opinion, nor did they ask the Iraqi, Afghan or Pakistani people what they think of selecting Barack Obama. I doubt they would be supportive of the choice of Mr. Obama but then they have higher priorities, such as staying alive in their war torn nations.

In the past, this Committee has selected such prominent peace activists as The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa. It also selected U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was a major architect of President Nixon's wars in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, reigning Hell down on those poor people.

Yet, ironically it never awarded the Prize to one of history's greatest peace activists, Mohandas K. Gandhi.

And what is often forgotten is yet another contradiction of that Prize. Alfred Nobel made his massive fortune as a war profiteer. He ran what was sort of the Halliburton of his time and he's most famous for inventing one of the most powerful weapons of that era, dynamite.

The Nobel or Oscars, Grammies and other prizes are just trinkets which the winners discard at death. Mother Teresa accepted her Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 largely for the monetary portion of the prize so she could donate it to her orphanage work.

So let's not take this Nobel Peace Prize so seriously.

Most important of all, to bring peace in the world is not a one person affair. It's up to you and me to get involved and join with others as we help to uplift humanity. For it is poverty and hunger, sickness and hopelessness that plant the seeds for war.

Instead of silence and indifference, let's start by pursuing even a small portion of the vast wealth poured into weapons and wars and then reinvest that money to help the poor uplift themselves. If we created hospitals, schools and jobs it could do wonders in bringing peace to the world.

[JuniperLea]

1. The writer needs to review Nobel Prize history...

Paying special attention to the award given to Desmond Tu Tu.

To insert the straw man Charlie Manson note is seriously disingenuous.

So why doesn't your RW hack buddy back off? An attempt to sully the prize itself is beyond the pale.

[earth mom]

7. delete

[earth mom]

2. President Obama disregarded his campaign promises...

President Obama disregarded his campaign promises to get the U.S. out of the Iraq war within 16 months of taking office and instead he adapted President Bush's plan, as he continues the brutal U.S. military occupation there.

That line says it all to me.

And yes, I agree, it's up to us to make Obama & Congress stop the wars that are being done in the name of the American people.

[JuniperLea]

5. Has he been in office 16 months yet?

Has he made a decision on the escalation yet?

Is this preemptive knee-capping?

I think so.

[earth mom]

8. How many months before you stop excusing him?

:eyes:

[JuniperLea]

11. There's nothing to excuse...

When that date comes, and he didn't follow through, then I'll pull a verbal Tanya Harding... not before.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Does Obama deserve the Nobel?

The guy who wrote this deserves a swift kick in the teeth.

[cherokeeprogressive]

6. Kick him in the teeth for having an opinion contrary to your own? Support the Constitution, much?

[Warpy]

4. While it's true Nobel invented dynamite and profited handsomely off it,

he considered it much as we now consider nuclear weapons, a doomsday weapon whose use was too terrible to contemplate and which would bring and end to war.

He was appalled when it didn't and when his invention was freely used in wars, fattening his bottom line. Hence, the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Prize wasn't just given to Obama, it was given to all the American people who voted for change, for hope, and for an end to the cowboy mentality of the last administration that went in with six guns blazing before finding out if they were good guys or bad guys and if they could at least talk to the bad guys and de escalate the situation before the whole town got killed in the crossfire.

A lot of us thought the Nobel committees had taken leave of their senses in the 70s when both Kissinger and Milton Friedman won their prizes for peace and economics, respectively.

However, they have a history of awarding some prizes in the hope that a recipient will live up to it, rather than for a history of living up to it.

And that's what you can tell your right wing friend.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

9. A very good post, except for that last sentance...

My "right wing friend" has held over 180 weekly candlelight vigils often times alone, protesting what the U.S. has done in Iraq and Afghanistan to their people and country, as well as our own soldiers. Right wing, not so much, anti-war, you bet!

Maybe you would like to read some of his candlelight vigil summaries, and then reassess his political leanings?

http://www.candlelightvigils.blogspot.com/

BTW, I did not agree with all his points in his opinion piece either. And I always enjoy reading your thoughtful comments.

Peace,

Jon

[Warpy]

13. You can still tell him

and that it came from somebody who was spending a junior high lunch hour once a week standing silent vigil with the Quakers against the Vietnam War in 1962.

I'm glad people like us are still out there because my standing for long times days are over.

[JuniperLea]

16. If only posts could be rec'd!

Beautifully put, Warpy.

Some here may be too young to remember, but there was a massive backlash against Desmond Tu Tu... apartheid didn't end until a decade AFTER his becoming a Nobel Laureate. And many considered him to be a terrorist. Yet the honor and dignity of the Nobel Peace Prize survived, untarnished.

There is far less to complain about with Obama... this too shall pass.

When all is said and done, all this angst over it from the RW will only serve to show how petty and unhinged they really are.

[zeos3]

10. I understand his points

but let's not just dismiss the prize so easily. Let's help the president live up to it. Your friend sounds quite cynical (I've been called that too) but he seems to be doing his part to help Obama live up to the ideal the prize represents, with his vigils.

I'm not my usual cynical self today so here's another ideal of peace we should try to live up to, from a source you might not expect.

The Oath of Alexander the Great

"Now that wars are over, I wish that you find happiness through Peace. May all mortals live from now on in harmony, as one Nation, for the sake of common prosperity. You should consider the World as your Country, with Common Laws, governed by men of Merit, regardless of their race.

I do not distinguish people as Greeks or Barbarians, as do the narrow-minded. I am not interested in where the citizens come from, nor what race they were born in. I rate them with a sole criterion, Virtue. Foe me, each good Foreigner is Greek and each bad Greek is worse than a barbarian. Should you ever have differences, you shall not resort to arms but you shall resolve them peacefully. If need be, I shall be your arbitrator.

You shall not think of God as a despotic Governor but as the common Father of all, so that your behavior will resemble that of brothers in the family. On my part, I consider all to be equal, white and dark-skinned. And I would wish that you would not be mere citizens of my Commonwealth but participants, all together partners. Inasmuch as it is within my powers, I shall endeavor to implement all that I promise. Behold this oath which we have taken thoughtfully tonight As a Standard of Love."

(324 B.C. - Opis Assirias)


This oath was pronounced in the presence of 9,000 Greek Generals and leaders-representatives of various ethnicities: Persians, Indians, Medians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians. It was preserved by philosopher Eratosthenes, director of the library of Alexandria.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

12. Wow, that oath is amazing...Thank you for sharing it in this thread.

I with I could recommend this, just for your post.

[zeos3]

14. Thanks

I had seen this on a gift brought back to me from Europe and it was fresh in my mind. I actually had posted it on it's own here for a little inspiration to us all, just before I read your OP.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6765376&mesg_id=6765376

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

15. Very good...I just went over to your thread to K&R it...

A well deserved "Greatest Page" entry.