# Clueless Idiots: The Nobel Committee **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 9, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175 "2009-10-09T10:53:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/141 "2009-10-09T20:53:41Z")
Yeah, I’ve got your “peace” right here, buddy. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/142 "2009-10-09T20:57:57Z")
You want a Nobel for Kanye West too? ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/143 "2009-10-09T21:01:52Z")
How many of you who are reflexively bashing this award have bothered to read the prize committee’s statement and rationale? [http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en\_GB/home/announce-2009/](http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/home/announce-2009/) > [@Nobel Peace Prize Committee](#): > > Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened. > > Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population. > > For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.” ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/144 "2009-10-09T21:02:30Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > Yeah, I agree. I’m a big Obama fan, but this is ridiculous. The nomination deadline was TWO WEEKS after he was inaugurated, for heaven’s sake. I agree that this award wasn’t deserved, but this argument is just stupid. People didn’t just find out about Obama on inauguration day. He was the most visible person in the world for all of 2008. He campaigned all kinds of civil rights issues and promised to undo some of the most odious things that GWB instituted and the world hated. Forty years before he’d be forced to sit in the back of the bus and use a separate drinking fountain in large parts of the country, and yet he got well over half of the voters to choose him. Obama was the single most important story of 2008 worldwide. He was probably nominated well before the inauguration. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/145 "2009-10-09T21:07:03Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > At some point a thing is not about what it’s about, it’s about you. > > Who do you want to be in this world? The one who says “congratulations,” when somebody wins something, or the one who shakes your fist and hollers that the thing is rigged? > > Which kind of person does the world need more of? What people are pissed about is that this reduces the status of the Nobel. I mean, even people who happen to agree that Obama is, in point of fact, a great guy, are likely to see that this just does not make sense. I echo what **RickJay** says - I’m from Ontario too, almost everyone here thinks Obama is a great guy, pretty well nobody thinks this makes a bit of sense. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/146 "2009-10-09T21:07:29Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You want a Nobel for Kanye West too? Nope. I don’t think you’re following which side of the argument I’m on, but I guess that the bit about soggy-diapered toddlers _was_ pretty ambiguous. Sorry for the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/147 "2009-10-09T21:08:17Z")
Getting elected, all by itself, was the equivalent of blowing up the Death Star. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/148 "2009-10-09T21:11:07Z")
The Kanye West analogy is actually pretty accurate. It’s a bunch of people trying to storm the stage and grab the microphone to say the award should go to Beyonce. Who cares who you think the award _should_ have gone to? Show some fucking class. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/149 "2009-10-09T21:11:07Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > What people are pissed about is that this reduces the status of the Nobel. > > I mean, even people who happen to agree that Obama is, in point of fact, a great guy, are likely to see that this just does not make sense. I echo what **RickJay** says - I’m from Ontario too, almost everyone here thinks Obama is a great guy, pretty well nobody thinks this makes a bit of sense. Bullshit. They’ve already given it to Yassir Arafat. What people are pissed about it is that they think every single piece of news they read is something to be pissed about. They cast about for reasons later. They just know that every single news feed is some kind of personal affront and a travesty. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/150 "2009-10-09T21:12:24Z")
To be fair, I would have done that at the Oscars when they gave Best Picture to Crash. What a shitty movie that was. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/151 "2009-10-09T21:16:54Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > Bullshit. They’ve already given it to Yassir Arafat. > > What people are pissed about it is that they think every single piece of news they read is something to be pissed about. They cast about for reasons later. They just know that every single news feed is some kind of personal affront and a travesty. I certainly don’t agree with awarding the thing to Arafat, but at least the man had _done_ something. Moreover, the fact that it has been awarded improperly and even ludicrously before isn’t a good argument for doing so again. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/152 "2009-10-09T21:17:06Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Who cares who you think the award _should_ have gone to? Show some fucking class. Says the man who blithely reduces Aung San Suu Kyi’s life work to “professional prisoner”… ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/153 "2009-10-09T21:19:22Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](#): > > Hell, this is how he won the presidency to begin with. You are now reaping what you have sown, people. You know, of all the comments on this thread, I think I love this one the best. Reap what we’ve sown? The guy just got a freaking Nobel Prize and $1.4 million! “You know, Billy, because you didn’t study for that test…you now get free ice cream for life. REAP WHAT YOU’VE SOWN BITCH!” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/154 "2009-10-09T21:22:11Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > To be fair, I would have done that at the Oscars when they gave Best Picture to Crash. What a shitty movie that was. I’ma let you finish, but _The English Patient_ was one of the shittiest Best Picture winners of all time…OF ALL TIME! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/155 "2009-10-09T21:23:35Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Says the man who blithely reduces Aung San Suu Kyi’s life work to “professional prisoner”… If she’d won, I wouldn’t piss on it. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/156 "2009-10-09T21:28:15Z")
Seconded. OK, I get it, he’s no W. Bush. And as such, the world is relieved. But “isn’t poised to declare war upon 1/3rd of the planet in the next 30 seconds at any given time” shouldn’t really count for a Peace Prize, end of story. Or if it does, where’s my fucking check, Oslo ? I never declared war on nobody ! ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/157 "2009-10-09T21:29:48Z")
Anyone who thinks Obama hasn’t been putting forth considerable effort this year on behalf of international diplomacy either hasn’t been paying attention at all or is simply a berserk partisan. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/158 "2009-10-09T21:31:13Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > What people are pissed about it is that they think every single piece of news they read is something to be pissed about. They cast about for reasons later. They just know that every single news feed is some kind of personal affront and a travesty. I think this is it exactly. Keeping this in mind, it really explains a lot. People are just insanely partisan these days. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/159 "2009-10-09T21:34:38Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Anyone who thinks Obama hasn’t been putting forth considerable effort this year on behalf of international diplomacy either hasn’t been paying attention at all or is simply a berserk partisan. The “berserk partisan” characterization isn’t remotely true. From what I’ve seen the reaction of _most_ people to this award has been, basically, puzzlement; including most Obama-supporters. Edit: and Obama himself, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175/160 "2009-10-09T21:46:47Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > The “berserk partisan” characterization isn’t remotely true. From what I’ve seen the reaction of _most_ people to this award has been, basically, puzzlement; including most Obama-supporters. > > Edit: and Obama himself, for that matter. Obama himself is unaware of his own efforts toward diplomacy??😕 But yes, I do include “not paying attention” as an option for some people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clueless-idiots-the-nobel-committee/513175.md?page=9)