Obama Awarded 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

[Mecha Cow]

I can respect an intelligently-written opinion I disagree with. Intelligent writers, however, don't write like this.

Glass house.

[Katie]

so....just because i'm curious....Obviously Obama wasn't nominated for anything that he's done in particular. (he'd only been in office for 12 days when nominations for the thing were closed)

For everyone who thinks he was pretentious for accepting the award.....how would you feel if, say, John McCain had been nominated and won? Would you still think it was silly that they chose him?

Personally, I find it really interesting that he was nominated and chosen. I think it would have been an insult to refuse it, and I think it was good of him to say he didn't deserve it. That being said, The nobel committee is in charge of that award and they can give it to whomever they see fit. Why is this even political at all? It's not like the general public anywhere had any say in what that committee did. Why make a huge deal out of it? Isn't it nice that one of our fellow countrymen was honored? I 100% guarantee that if McCain or Palin or any other American won it I'd still feel proud.

It is fascinating to realize how much one single individual garners so much negativity from so many.

I wore an Obama tee shirt to a football game last night. I was just sitting there, watching the game, never said anything bad to anyone, never said anythign political at all. Still I had bottles thrown at me, beer poured on me, and someone called me an ignorant bitch. All I was doing was watching a game. With a tee shirt on.

[Hannah]

Originally Posted by Type 97 Chi-ha

I can respect an intelligently-written opinion I disagree with. Intelligent writers, however, don't write like this.

The raven chides blackness.

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by poiuytre

This is kind of a whole different subject altogether, but isn't that line of thought the entire reason why other parties don't have a chance?

Oh, definitely. It's a real Catch 22. I'd love to be able to vote for a party that accurately represents my beliefs in good conscience. But the fact is that unless everyone adopts that manner of thinking (not going to happen), it's better to just vote for the most suitable major party.

And I'm not sure that a multi-party system is the way to go, for that matter. If everyone voted for a million different parties, you could end up with the group in power having taken, say, only 15% of the total vote just because the options were so varied. So while 15% of the nation would have their beliefs completely represented, the other 85% would be SOL. And it's not like the two-party (or three or four-party in some countries) system exists just because centuries ago someone said "There shall be only be so many parties." It's a natural evolution. Say there were hundreds of viable parties. Inevitably people on the same side of the political spectrum are going to catch on and say, "Hey, you know, so-and-so party is fairly agreeable. Let's have all the lieberals compromise and throw their support by it so we at least have a chance."

There's really no practical way to implement a perfect democratic system. Oh well. It doesn't keep me up at night.

Personally, I find it really interesting that he was nominated and chosen. I think it would have been an insult to refuse it, and I think it was good of him to say he didn't deserve it. That being said, The nobel committee is in charge of that award and they can give it to whomever they see fit. Why is this even political at all? It's not like the general public anywhere had any say in what that committee did. Why make a huge deal out of it? Isn't it nice that one of our fellow countrymen was honored? I 100% guarantee that if McCain or Palin or any other American won it I'd still feel proud.

But it's not supposed to recognize a country. It's not an Olympic Medal. It's a specific award given to a specific individual for their specific actions towards maintaining peace. When people have to ask of the winner, "Well, what exactly did they do?", it seems a little fishy.

But the major mistake people make is in thinking that the award means anything at all. It's always been one of the bunkier Nobel prizes. Take a look at some of the past winners.

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

Originally Posted by Katie

For everyone who thinks he was pretentious for accepting the award.....how would you feel if, say, John McCain had been nominated and won? Would you still think it was silly that they chose him?

Yes.

Originally Posted by Katie

It is fascinating to realize how much one single individual garners so much negativity from so many.

George W. Bush can relate.

Originally Posted by Katie

I wore an Obama tee shirt to a football game last night. I was just sitting there, watching the game, never said anything bad to anyone, never said anythign political at all. Still I had bottles thrown at me, beer poured on me, and someone called me an ignorant bitch. All I was doing was watching a game. With a tee shirt on.

I agree it's reprehensible behavior. Unfortunately I recently read of an even worse case, where a man talked about how when he was a boy in New York City, his father, as a joke, dressed him up in the uniform of one major NYC baseball team and had him walk into a neighborhood whose inhabitants were all fans of the rival major NYC baseball team. Neighborhood boys then attacked him and attempted to lynch him (yes, you read that right), but fortunately his grandmother caught them and intervened, preventing a potential tragedy.

[SwordofTengu]

I don't care if he inspires hope! He needs to do more peaceful actions before he can get the prize, IMHO.

[Lynn]

He may be a good human being, but as of yet, he's still undeserving of the award.