Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize • Hacker News Board

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#111

Post by patio11 » Fri, Oct 09, 2009, 12:59 PM UTC

statictype wrote: post #100

patio11 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This makes him the second American president to get a Peace Prize for not being George Bush, which the head of the Nobel Committee actually admitted to reporters when Carter got the award. I stopped caring about their opinion on anything after that. But the chairman of the secretive Norwegian Nobel Committee said bluntly that the award was meant to slam Bush's policy on Iraq. "With the position Carter has taken...(th…

Was that a tongue-in-cheek comment on Gore being the actual president? Or a typo? Or is there some other president I'm not aware of?

Jimmy Carter. (Technically, a former president at the time he won the award.)

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#112

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Oct 09, 2009, 1:02 PM UTC

hlizard wrote: post #53

The pro Obamas fellows doesn't understand that it always finishes the same way... the guys in uniform come to your home...

[deleted]

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#113

Post by unalone » Fri, Oct 09, 2009, 1:02 PM UTC

hlizard wrote: post #53

The pro Obamas fellows doesn't understand that it always finishes the same way... the guys in uniform come to your home...

I was going to respond, then looked at your history and realized you were a troll. Good game. Shame on whoever upvoted you.

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#114

Post by stuaxo » Fri, Oct 09, 2009, 1:02 PM UTC

Is this because he's not Bush? There are still wars going on that his country is involved in.

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#115

Post by unalone » Fri, Oct 09, 2009, 1:06 PM UTC

tsally wrote: post #9

Gandhi died before he was awarded the Peace Prize, even though he was nominated five times. Obama gets it less than a year into his Presidency? I like Obama, but that's just wrong.

I don't know why people hold the Nobel Prizes in such esteem. It's like people complaining that Radiohead doesn't win enough at the Grammies, or that people let Slumdog Millionaire win the Best Picture Oscar. Prizes aren't some objective reflection of how good a person is. The Nobel Prize has long been controversial. Why do people still treat it like a prize where its failures are worth criticizing?

In this case, I understand the motivation behind the prize. Politically, with the Nobel Prize behind him Obama gains a lot of capital. People will be less willing to argue with him, bad press against him quiets down, and he's freer to do what he wants without the insane hostility he faces today. I'd like to think this prize will help lead to the eviction of the Republican Party even more quickly than it was already.

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#116

Post by justlearning » Fri, Oct 09, 2009, 1:06 PM UTC

When I read the title, I thought it was a link bait, until I clicked.

may be, the Nobel Prize association is under new 'management'? I thought the Nobel prize was given to accomplishments rather than ideas. I really like Obama, but isn't it bit too early?

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#117

Post by Maktab » Fri, Oct 09, 2009, 1:07 PM UTC

jakkals wrote: post #103

olefoo wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is correct, we have not closed the prison camp at Guantanamo, nor have we ceased extraordinary renditions, nor apparently have we ceased to commit torture as a matter of policy. While the Nobel Peace Prize is by it's very nature a political tool intended to promote the political goal it is named for; in this case it feels rather premature. It does seem like an award that was directed more against his predecessor…

"The only other US president to receive the honor was Jimmy Carter and he received it for his work after he was president" Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Price in 1919 (while he was in office). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson

After helping to end World War I and having done his utmost to secure a fair and lasting peace in Europe, including being instrumental in founding the League of Nations.

I like Obama, but what has he done so far to compare to that?

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#118

Post by boredguy8 » Fri, Oct 09, 2009, 1:09 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #84

ugh wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobel Peace Prize. No reason to drag the other Nobels into that.

By tainting the Nobel Peace Prize the others get devalued as well, it is one institution. So, I really did mean the Nobel Prize as such and I'm really sorry they did that. From the wikipedia article on the Nobel Prize: "The interval between the accomplishment of the achievement being recognized and the awarding of the Nobel Prize for it varies from discipline to discipline. The prizes in Literature are typically awar…

"By tainting the Nobel Peace Prize the others get devalued as well, it is one institution."

That's just a part/whole fallacy. The badness of what some priests did to boys doesn't devalue what Mother Theresa did by virtue of them both being Catholic.

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#119

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Oct 09, 2009, 1:14 PM UTC

ErrantX wrote: post #97

jacquesm wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. It should be a prize for achievement, not for intentions. The Nobel Prize has just devalued considerably.

In my personal opinion is devalued when they gave it to Al-Gore for making a scare-tactic film on global warming :) (Im not commenting on global warming at all BTW - that is another issue - but the film was pure scare tactic bullshit, which devalued the issue more than raising any awareness. Stuff like that shouldn't be awarded :() I do agree; the only thing I can think is that Obama has achieved quite a bit so far (…

[deleted]

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#120

Post by gaius » Fri, Oct 09, 2009, 1:15 PM UTC

unalone wrote: post #115

tsally wrote: post #9

Gandhi died before he was awarded the Peace Prize, even though he was nominated five times. Obama gets it less than a year into his Presidency? I like Obama, but that's just wrong.

I don't know why people hold the Nobel Prizes in such esteem. It's like people complaining that Radiohead doesn't win enough at the Grammies, or that people let Slumdog Millionaire win the Best Picture Oscar. Prizes aren't some objective reflection of how good a person is. The Nobel Prize has long been controversial. Why do people still treat it like a prize where its failures are worth criticizing? In this case, I u…

Politically, with the Nobel Prize behind him Obama gains a lot of capital.

Not really. I just had a look on the BBC's comments page and the overwhelming reaction is ridicule. Similarly my Facebook newsfeed is full of people wondering WTF.