# Annual Nobel Peace Prize outrage **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 12, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524 "2012-10-12T15:23:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/41 "2012-10-12T20:19:06Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > As much as Muhammad Yunus, Al Gore and Barack Obama (when he won). Yeah, well, I think they’re still in the phase of giving Peace Prizes to anyone and anything that isn’t Bush II. Maybe I’ll get one next year – for what I say here and now. “Peace – good! War – bad!” Words to live by. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/42 "2012-10-12T20:32:55Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > :dubious: > > The jury is most definitely out on that one. You are correct in that it is unique, as such we really can’t say what the end result is going to be can we? Sure, it’s not a sure thing and it may all fall apart. The important thing is that it represents a in innovative step in the very way that humans organize themselves. We have seen the near end of large scale inter-state warfare, and violence is at an all time low. This is, in part, because political and economic structures are changing to promote more cooperation and disincentive violence. ---
**Author:** ![blueslipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/43 "2012-10-12T20:38:43Z")
There have been some evil winners- [http://newhampshire.watchdog.org/1196/the-ten-worst-nobel-peace-prize-winners/](http://newhampshire.watchdog.org/1196/the-ten-worst-nobel-peace-prize-winners/) That list does not even have Kissinger who helped in the carpet bombing of Cambodia which led Cambodia into the hands of the Khmer Rouge- [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30073697/ns/world\_news-asia\_pacific/t/ex-prison-chief-us-policy-aided-khmer-rouge/#.UHh-2G-Gxx0](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30073697/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/t/ex-prison-chief-us-policy-aided-khmer-rouge/#.UHh-2G-Gxx0) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/44 "2012-10-12T20:48:58Z")
Look, this year, it’s obvious that the Nobel Committee is editorializing. It’s been a bad year for the European Union. Germans are starting to resent having to support every mismanaged country in Europe, and the smaller member states are getting sick of outsiders telling them what to do. The Nobel Committee is giving the E.U. this award as a way of telling everyone in Europe, “The Union is a wonderful thing! Please, please, PLEASE don’t break it up!” ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/45 "2012-10-12T20:50:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’ll call your Hitler with a [Stalin](http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/nomination/nomination.php?action=show&showid=3323). I’ll raise your Hitler and Stalin with Alfred ‘the merchant of death’ Nobel managing to have the Peace Prize better known as his legacy than the arms dealer he was until his dying day. His reason for creating the Prize was reading his erroneously published [obituary](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel#Nobel_Prizes): > [@](#): > > In 1888 Alfred’s brother Ludvig died while visiting Cannes and a French newspaper erroneously published Alfred’s obituary.[1] It condemned him for his invention of dynamite and is said to have brought about his decision to leave a better legacy after his death.[1][7] **The obituary stated Le marchand de la mort est mort (“The merchant of death is dead”)[1] and went on to say, “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”**[8] Alfred was disappointed with what he read and concerned with how he would be remembered. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/46 "2012-10-12T20:51:27Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Look, this year, it’s obvious that the Nobel Committee is editorializing. That’s often the case. You could argue it’s the case every year, actually, so I don’t see the problem with that part. > [@Dissonance](#): > > I’ll raise your Hitler and Stalin Annual reminder that _anyone_ can be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Not much cause for outrage there except at the people who submit stupid nominations. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/47 "2012-10-12T20:53:16Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > I’ll raise your Hitler and Stalin with Alfred ‘the merchant of death’ Nobel managing to have the Peace Prize better known as his legacy than the arms dealer he was until his dying day. His reason for creating the Prize was reading his erroneously published [obituary](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel#Nobel_Prizes): So you’re saying he would have been a shoe-in? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/48 "2012-10-12T21:00:02Z")
Canada should win it every year, because everyone else sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/49 "2012-10-12T21:00:05Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > … Annual reminder that _anyone_ can be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. … Will you nominate me? My qualifications: 1. Am not George Bush, Jr. 2. Have never started or participated in the fighting of a war. 3. Have argued with numerous people that war is a poor strategy. 4. Am a big fan of the Swiss and the Swedes, or whoever gives these things out. 5. Will use my award money to produce an anti-war public service announcement featuring the Swedish Bikini Team. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/50 "2012-10-12T21:02:33Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Canada should win it every year, because everyone else sucks. Don’t you go dissin’ the Swedish Bikini Team! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/51 "2012-10-12T21:04:16Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Will you nominate me? If I ever become a qualified nominator and you’re still not George W. Bush, I might. [Here’s how that process works](http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/nomination/), and it provides another reason Malala Yousufzai wasn’t honored: the deadline for nominations is February 1. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/52 "2012-10-12T21:13:18Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > If I ever become a qualified nominator and you’re still not George W. Bush, I might. [Here’s how that process works](http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/nomination/), and it provides another reason Malala Yousufzai wasn’t honored: the deadline for nominations is February 1. These nominations will be submitted by members of national assemblies, governments, and international courts of law; university chancellors, professors of social science, history, philosophy, law and theology; leaders of peace research institutes and institutes of foreign affairs; previous Nobel Peace Prize Laureates; board members of organizations that have received the Nobel Peace Prize; present and past members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; and former advisers of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. I think you are qualified to nominate me. 1. You are a member of a national assembly – the SDMB. There is no specific requirement that the assembly has to be a governmental institution. 2. You are a leader of a peace research institute and an institute of foreign affairs – the SDMB. And surely Cecil has a Nobel Prize by now, doesn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/53 "2012-10-12T23:32:29Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Why not give the award to Bill Gates? Dude does a lot to help people. Yeah, except for the [global depopulation conspiracy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_MlLsuyfSk). 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/54 "2012-10-13T01:33:48Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > How the fuck did they not revote yesterday to give it to [Malala Yousufzai](http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/10/opinion/ghitis-malala-yousufzai/index.html)? That and the Taliban are more than worthy of a Pitting. Even if you claim they couldn’t convene that quickly there has got to be people/organizations more deserving than the EU. Sorry if this was pointed out earlier and I missed it, but my understanding is that the deadline for accepting nominations is very early in the year, something like the end of February. The head of the Nobel Committee has in the past said this is an iron-clad rule with absolutely no exceptions. So Yousufzai really would not have had a chance, but she could be in the running next year. This made Obama’s Peace Prize all the more remarkable, because he would have had to be nominated no more than five or six weeks into office at the very latest. > [@mozchron](#): > > Does this mean that every citizen of the EU can now call themselves a Nobel Prize winner? > > Because I would so do that if I could. I once met a man who in all seriousness put “Co-Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize” on his resume. The 1988 prize went to the UN Peacekeeping Force, of which he was a soldier at the time. As for the EU winning it, all I know is they’re going to need a bigger building for the awards ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/55 "2012-10-13T01:46:04Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > … and it provides another reason Malala Yousufzai wasn’t honored: the deadline for nominations is February 1. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Sorry if this was pointed out earlier and I missed it, but my understanding is that the deadline for accepting nominations is very early in the year, something like the end of February. The head of the Nobel Committee has in the past said this is an iron-clad rule with absolutely no exceptions. So Yousufzai really would not have had a chance, but she could be in the running next year. This made Obama’s Peace Prize all the more remarkable, because he would have had to be nominated no more than five or six weeks into office at the very latest. Ah, there. See? I missed **Marley’s** post. But the February 1 deadline makes Obama’s win even more remarkable than I’d said. He would have been nominated less than two weeks after taking office, or even before. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/56 "2012-10-13T03:34:33Z")
I know nominations are closed early in the year but IIRC the 5 person committee can add their own nominations although I may be mistaken. And my point was not that 1 person deserved it more than the EU but that I could easily come up with 10 people/organizations that easily deserve it more than the EU. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/57 "2012-10-13T06:25:26Z")
Sad that nominating the European Union is actually a step up compared to some of the past winners. At least the science prizes still mean something… generally. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/58 "2012-10-13T07:08:36Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Who would you have given the Nobel Peace Prize to this year? I would have given it to Malala. Ignoring the usual deadline for nominations would have been far less stupid than giving it to the European Union. Of course, these are the same morons who gave Obama the prize before he had time to show his true colours as a protector of torturers, persecutor of whistleblowers and proponent of indefinite detention without trial. ---
**Author:** ![polar\_bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@polar\_bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polar_bear)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/59 "2012-10-13T09:05:29Z")
There is nothing wrong with the EU winning it. Just look at the former Yugoslav republics that are doing everything they can to become a member (and probably will). Countries that were committing genocide on each other a mere 20 years ago, are willing to do ‘anything’ to become part of the same community. As someone said earlier, just look at the road Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, etc. have taken since the end of the cold war. ---
**Author:** ![Pacific420](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Pacific420](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pacific420)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524/60 "2012-10-13T10:34:12Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > This year it went to the European Union, namely because there hasn’t been a major European War in over half a century. I think it also has something to with how they handled the economic crisis because we all know peace is about economics, global warming and not being George W. Bush. > > How the fuck did they not revote yesterday to give it to [Malala Yousufzai](http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/10/opinion/ghitis-malala-yousufzai/index.html)? That and the Taliban are more than worthy of a Pitting. Even if you claim they couldn’t convene that quickly there has got to be people/organizations more deserving than the EU. What about those celebrities that without all that hype go to Africa and save babies like George Clooney and Boner from U2? > > Who would you have given the Nobel Peace Prize to this year? The whole Nobel bit was blown since it was awarded to Obama, simply for getting elected I guess…he hadn’t done anything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annual-nobel-peace-prize-outrage/637524.md?page=4)