Text 734, 98 rader
Skriven 2009-10-22 21:24:10 av Lee Lofaso (3:800/432.0)
    Kommentar till text 671 av Tim Richardson (1:123/140)
Ärende: The Well-Deserved Pri 1/
================================
Hello Tim,

TR>It was a good thing, the Nobel Peace Prize. Every year the giving of
TR>it was matter of note throughout the world, almost a matter of state.
TR>It was serious.

The Nobel Peace Prize remains a good thing, to this very day, and is
viewed as being the most prestigious award in the world.  Except by
rightwing nutjobs, such as Peggy Noonan, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck,
Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage...

TR>It mattered that it was given to a woman like Mother Teresa in 1979.

It mattered not to Mother Teresa, as she could have cared less for
a prize any kind.  What mattered most to her was the poor she cared
so much for.  And the cash to pay for the food to feed them.

TR>She had lived for 30 years with the poorest of the poor; she and her
TR>Missionaries of Charity dressed their wounds, healed their illnesses,
TR>and literally carried them from the streets to mats and beds in a
TR>home where they would at least have in death the thing they had not
TR>had in life, someone to care for them. She didn't just care for them,
TR>she did the hard thing: She loved them. Her life was heroic, epic,
TR>and when she was given the Nobel Peace Prize, it was if the world
TR>were saying, "You are the best we have. You are living a life that
TR>should be emulated."

That may be, but that did not stop her from traveling to other parts
of the world in order to accept honors and awards (cash) to feed her
poor in Calcutta.

TR>Nelson Mandela was unjustly imprisoned for 27 years, and he came
TR>out without bitterness.

It is plainly obvious that Peggy Noonan knows nothing about what
she is talking about.  Anybody who has wasted 27 years of their life
in prison and survives comes out a very bitter individual.

TR>There's a hero for you.

Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize.
One an accused terrorist, the other an accused racist and bigot.

TR>He preserved his faith and that of his countrymen that together they
TR>could make their nation better, more decent an humane. He lived a
TR>life of moral and political struggle, broke the old chain that had
TR>bound South Africa. At the end he was a literal inspiration to the
TR>world.

Faith in what?  His ability to survive 27 years of confinement?
Nelson Mandela did nothing to end apartheid.  And neither did F.W.
de Klerk.  The world forced it upon F.W. de Klerk to free Nelson
Mandela and end the racist policy of apartheid.  The world forced
it upon Nelson Mandela to accept a democratic form of government
for South Africa when he assumed the presidency.  That is not to
say that neither man deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.  Both did.
But not for the reasons given by Peggy Noonan.

TR>Some Peace Prizes have been more roughly political, or had a
TR>political edge, and were of course debatable.

The Nobel Peace Prize is based on reality, whether one considers
it as being a political award or not.

TR>Woodrow Wilson, self-infatuated after World War I, had little
TR>patience with those who foresaw that the Peace of Versailles would
TR>lead to more war, and did not understand or know the political
TR>realities and deeper nature of his own countrymen. And so his League
TR>of Nations flopped in America, the one place where it absolutely had
TR>to succeed. But--well, he helped end "the war to end all wars,"
TR>issued his Fourteen Points, did try to make the world better.

Lemme see if I got this right.  Woodrow Wilson knew so little about
his own countrymen that he was able to win two consecutive terms as
President of the United States.  Woodrow Wilson knew so little about
peace and war that he founded the League of Nations.  What a dummy.

TR>Ferocious Teddy Roosevelt, that progressive and blood -minded man,
TR>worked hard to forge a truce and a peace between the czar's Russia
TR>and Japan.

Well, somebody had to do it.  So why not Teddy?

TR>More deeply into the political life of the 20th century, there were Jimmy
TR>Carter and Al Gore, and their Peace Prizes were what they were. But each man
TR>had a body of work; each had devoted considerable time and effort to a great
TR>issue.

Jimmy Carter should have also been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
alongside Anwar Sadat and Menachim Begin.  Peggy Noonan conveniently
leaves that part out.

>>> Continued to next message

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