The Nobel Peace Prize — Dy-no-mite!

Prestige. How does one get it and how does one hold onto it? The Norwegian Nobel Committee has attained great prestige with their annual prizes. They recently came under fire though for the award of their 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Whether you agree with the award or not, why does the world put so much emphasis on what the Norwegian Nobel Committee decides? Who are they? Who was Nobel?

The Norwegian Nobel Committee is made up of five members who are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament. They are supposed to represent the political makeup of the Norwegian Parliament. Point #1: The Nobel Peace Prize is political.

The Nobel Committee is currently made up of one man (Chair of the committee) and four women. Two are from the Labour Party and each of the remaining three represents a different party: the Conservative Party, the Progress Party, and the Socialist Left Party. The Labour Party is officially a social democratic party. "[I]t is largely through their efforts that the modern welfare state in Norway has been created." The Conservative Party considers itself non-socialist, however its "social policies are quite liberal, with the party's programme supporting liberal policies such as gay adoption rights and marriage." It only received 14.1 percent of the vote in 2005. The Progress Party's original name was "Anders Lange’s Party for a Strong Reduction in Taxes, Duties and Public Intervention." It is considered right-winged. Though it "became the second largest political party in Norway for its first time in the 1997 parliamentary election, and has been so ever since, only abrupted by the 2001 parliamentary elections, " it "has yet to be part of a Norwegian government, mainly as a result of the concurrent ostracism by most of the other mainstream politcal [sic] parties." The Socialist Left Party was founded as "an alliance of the Socialist People's Party, Communist Party of Norway, Democratic Socialists - AIK and independent Socialists." The majority of the members of the committee are therefore socialist or socialist leaning with one member being "right-winged" whose party is ostracized by most of the other mainstream political parties. Sounds a lot like "The View". Why don't we just have Barbara, Whoopi, Joy, Sherri, and Elisabeth decide on who gets the Nobel Peace Prize? Would the outcome really be so much different? Point #2: The Nobel Committee is a left-leaning, socialist organization.

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor and manufacturer. His last will and testament established the Nobel Prizes using the majority of his estate to finance them. Of the Nobel Peace Prize his will states, from the Nobel Prize website: "... and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses (emphasis added)." He didn't say, "for actual accomplishments and not just for campaign promises," but it seems to be implied, wouldn't you think? Point #3: The Nobel Peace Prize is supposed to be for work already accomplished.

And speaking of Alfred Nobel, he wasn't just any inventor and manufacturer, he was a major armaments manufacturer (he turned a company named Bofors from an iron and steel mill into a weapons manufacturer) and invented gelignite (blasting gelatin), ballistite (a smokeless replacement for gunpowder) and dynamite. Weapons for peace? He wrote a prose tragedy, which was regarded as scandalous and blasphemous. When his efforts to sell the rights to ballistite to the French government failed (he was then living in Paris) he licensed the rights to the Italian government. Nobel was accused of industrial espionage and high treason against France. He subsequently moved to Italy where he spent the rest of his life. A premature obituary of Nobel by a French newspaper stated, "The merchant of death is dead," and went on to say, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday." Point #4: The person who established the Nobel Peace Prize was not considered a man of peace.

To summarize:
● The person who established the Nobel Peace Prize was not considered a man of peace.
● The Nobel Peace Prize is political.
● The Nobel Committee is a left-leaning, socialist organization.
● The Nobel Peace Prize is supposed to be for work already accomplished.

Does the prize still seem so prestigious now that you've learned these facts? Any organization is free to award what they want to whomever they want for whatever reason they want. That's not the issue. The issue is, should the rest of the world accept the political views of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, without question? Should we think this is the end-all award for peace? Are their decisions of any worth? If so, how much? As far as their last decision goes, it looks like they got back to their roots, because it certainly seems to have blown up in their faces.