Sunday 11 October 2009

Just don't get Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize? Well join a growing crowd.....



I have to admit that I was one of those who, on hearing that US President Barack Obama had been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, went; "Whaaa?"
To see if I was the odd man out I did a quick swing across cyberspace on Saturday afternoon and this is what I found:

According to Mashable: The Social Media Guide Obama's Nobel Peace Prize: 69% of Twitter Users Don't Get It and drew this graph. Click to enlarge

Many in US media skeptical of Obama's Nobel Prize reported the AFP.

Nancy Gibbs at Yahoo News thought The Last Thing Obama Needs Is the Nobel Peace Prize but her colleague Gregory Katz played another tune with Obama's Nobel Peace Prize triumph praised by many.

The Taliban pointed out the irony of getting a peace prize while conducting an escalating war in The Age's article Taliban condemns Obama's Nobel Prize.

The Brisbane Times informed us his Kenyan family 'honoured' by Obama's Nobel Prize.

The Sydney Morning Herald ran with Obama urged to use Nobel as spur to peace

Al Jazeera expressed surprise but went with Obama: I do not deserve Nobel prize


Teh Man himself was suitably humble according to a White House presser REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON WINNING THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE and a twee blog post Happy Birthday Bo! (which should come with an excess sugar warning).

While the Norwegian Nobel Committee released a short four paragraph announcement which started all the fuss by awarding the prize to Obama primarily for his "vision" and "attitudes".
Ever obliging, the Nobel Committee invites us to Ask the 2009 Nobel Laureates a Question! via its website.

Before the year is out Obama will probably be wishing that he hadn't won, because everytime the US death toll in Afghanistan rises some grieving mother is likely to toss that prize right back in his face.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't you actually have to DO something first BEFORE you are recognised as a 'peace-maker'? Are they rewarding Obama, or Martin Luther King Jr posthumously just because the two share the same skin colour?

It makes a joke of the Nobel Peace Prize if it is simply being used to go with the tide of public opinion, rather than actually looking for people who really do make a difference everyday in aiming to create a peaceful world.