Micro-loan pioneer and bank win Nobel Peace Prize

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I noticed that it has become far more political since 9/11.

This guy should have won an economics prize and little else. Basically he is entirely undeserving of a peace prize but the Swedes desperately wanted a muslim to give the prize to so they came up with this tenious connection and declared him the winner. How about naming people based on merit instead of "we really need a muslim/westerner/nonwesterner/black person to give the prize to this year"?

as opposed to "we need to give it to someone whos currently in the midst of an international crisis, as a way to encourage keeping the peace process intact" or "we need to give to a dissident from country X as way to pressure country X", or "we need to give to person or org Y as a way to highlight the issue that Y is involved with" or "we need to give it to political dissident Z, cause it makes it less likely Z will be executed" The Peace prize has been political in those ways for decades.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Pekka
This is BS because this Nobel Prize is very respected one. I mean it makes a huge difference if you won the Noble prize or didn't. So it's not just unfair, it's BS.

You should have complained in 1949, then.

[RGBVideo]

as opposed to "we need to give it to someone whos currently in the midst of an international crisis, as a way to encourage keeping the peace process intact" or "we need to give to a dissident from country X as way to pressure country X", or "we need to give to person or org Y as a way to highlight the issue that Y is involved with" or "we need to give it to political dissident Z, cause it makes it less likely Z will be executed" The Peace prize has been political in those ways for decades.

Yes, all these would've actually achieved something, as opposed to the rationale described by Oerdin and me which means that the committee is simply publicly masturbating in their righteousness from their Ivory Tower.

[Pekka]

I guess so...

But let's hope the trend does not continue. I think it's good to have Nobel prize respected. It carries a certain weight, still does and should carry in the future as well.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
You should have complained in 1949, then.

I'm not sure Pekka was even alive then .

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


I'm not sure Pekka was even alive then .

Nor was I, despite being an old fart.

Which is precisely my point - this is a long established precedent.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Which doesn't make it right...

[Kidlicious]

You can't make something like this not political.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Which doesn't make it right...

why isnt it right? Its their friggin prize, if they choose to define its field of coverage broadly why shouldnt they. Cause its called a "peace" prize? Are we getting a little too hung up on what things are called?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Err... what's the point in naming an award if you won't get caught up on what it is called (like the arguments for "Most Valuable Player" in sports)?

[Dinner]

Repeating the same error a second time doesn't make it any less of an error.

[LordShiva]

It's not the second time. Repeating an "error" enough for it to become precedent does make it less of an error.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Err... what's the point in naming an award if you won't get caught up on what it is called (like the arguments for "Most Valuable Player" in sports)?

well if they called it the peace prize, and gave the award to someone whom THEY didnt believe had anything to do with peace, that would be silly. But they have believed for at least 56 years that economic development and poverty ARE related to peace, and while you may disagree with that, its hardly a fringe position.

[Kidlicious]

Just because someone has a different opinion than you doesn't mean they are wrong. Jeesh.

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Err... what's the point in naming an award if you won't get caught up on what it is called (like the arguments for "Most Valuable Player" in sports)?

Surely that's another example - awarded to the player who played the best, not the one who's worth the most money.

A huge from me for the award. Whether or not it's named right or whatever, microcredits deserve an awful lot of recognition. Perhaps the prize for economics would have been better, but I think the link between peace and poverty is well established.