One of the consequences of having all of these humans taking up space on the planet and offering their pesky interpretations of things is that the meanings of words and ideas and phrases tend to transform over time.
With that in mind, let us revisit what the "Nobel Peace Prize" was supposed to be for. According to the will of Alfred Nobel, the Peace Prize should be awarded to the person or organization that "...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."
Now, at least in my view, if that's what Alfred wants for his prize, that's what Alfred should get.
Which brings us to the matter at hand: the fact that, this year, two nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize are WikiLeaks and the Internet... you know, like, the whole Internet.
It's worth noting, of course, that these were among 241 nominees, so neither has won anything yet.
Nevertheless, last week we polled site visitors on the subject, asking which -- if either of these -- is more deserving of the Prize. Here's how nearly 100 people responded:
According to our poll takers, the Internet (with 41 percent) is more deserving than WikiLeaks (18 percent) of being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize -- but 30 percent of our voters still say it should go to neither.
Well, I hope none of you got your hopes up... because these votes don't actually count for anything. But let's analyze this situation anyway, shall we? What makes either of these worthy of a Peace Prize?
Reuters offered this when reporting on the nominations:
WikiLeaks grabbed the world's attention and angered a number of governments by publishing thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables... Some pundits have said the Internet or social media such as Facebook and Twitter, which have been used to help organize dissent in countries with oppressive governments, could be rewarded.
I don't know about you, but that just doesn't do it for me. In fact, it would take putting on some serious blinders to not consider all opposing arguments: WikiLeaks put people's lives in danger. Internet access was cut off in Egypt and Libya. The Internet has been used as a tool to further oppress people, to spy on them. It has been used to disseminate false information. It has allowed this dancing banana video to be seen over 19 million times.
We discuss often on this site how the Internet is used as both a tool for good and evil. While it has been the medium that has allowed citizens in oppressed countries to communicate with one another, suggesting it should be rewarded for that, is to look at the situation from a feel-good perspective and not in a well rounded way. What about the role the Internet plays in really, really bad things? Think of those things (cyber-bullying, child pornography, terrorist recruitment, dissemination of what.the.ferraro, etc., etc.!) and try to explain how the Internet fits the description Nobel offered.
It's just not rational, and it doesn't consider the whole situation. Rather, this nomination feels much like the endless array of breathless articles and books articulating the Internet's power that bother not with contrarianism or challenging arguments.
Barack Obama's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 caused a great deal of controversy, as he was given the award based on what he could potentially do rather than what he'd already done. Should the Internet or WikiLeaks get the Nobel Nod, it will feel like a similar situation, where more worthy candidates lose out to the power of hope and hype.
Excuse me if I'm wrong but isn't the founder of the Nobel Prize, Alfred Nobel, one of the greatest war profiteers of the 19th century?
I echo this question. The truth is that everything or person has a bad side to it, whether known to the public or not.
In my opinion the internet ought to have received the Nobel prize long time ago because it has indeed helped as a tool to foster understanding among people's of the world.
however the internet itself refers to nobody in particular since it has evolved so much by the contributions of millions of people. So it would simply be an honour to the whole concept and all its contributors. The money need not be distributed or it can go to a charity.
Wikileaks on the other hand does refer to a specific effort traceable to a specific organisation, but whether it has contributed to peace efforts will continue to be debatable, hence i don't think they qualify.
That is very true and quite ironic, that the World Prize was established by the man who invented dynamite. So we can speak a lot about the influence of the Internet -but all these riots in the East, where many people were killed was because of the Internet...
Oh, and just one question. If Wikkileaks wins- we know who can get the Prize money- but if the Internet wins- who gets the money? Tim Bernard Lee, Vint Cerf,Philip Emeagwali?
Maybe Vint Cerf could accept the NPP on behalf of the Internet. Everyone knows that the Net would just spend all the money associated with the prize on girls and booze, then crash its Porsche on the 101.
I appreciate the conceptualization required to nominate the Internet for the NPP, seeing as it does, well, change the way we communicate with each other, at its most basic. By and large, more communication yields greater understanding (please note there are huge caveats and exceptions attached to this statement).
Hey, maybe there's been a crazy mixup! Maybe Mark Zuckerberg was supposed to be nom'd for the NPP and the Net itself was supposed to be Network of the Year in Time's annual poll.
Even Mahatma Gandhi failed to get a Nobel Peace prize. The omission of Mahatma Gandhi has been particularly widely discussed, including in public statements by various members of the Nobel Committee. I guess something seriously wrong in selection procedure. It doesn't make sense to acknowledge those awards which doesnt reflect the general opinion of the public.
0.005 of a Kronor, that's my cut based on a Nobel Prize of 10 million Swedish dollars divided by 2 billion Internet users.
Yes the old Good and Evil thing. I think a precedent was set with Al Gore getting the prize because never before has a man of "peace" been someone who actually went out of his way to divide the world into two warring camps ( "Deniers" and "Scientists" ).
So, maybe the Peace Prize is really a War Prize underneath it all. How else was Nobel going to sell all that nitroglycerin? The Internet has become a War of Words as you say, more than a group of people socializing towards some common consensus.
Is the keyboard is mightier than the sword? It certainly doesn't leave as many landmines around afterward.
I agree - just how did this nomination pass through? And if (big if) it is awarded to the Internet, just who will be accepting? It is a shame that such a wonderful award has lost so much of its shine and luster.
I don;t think you could ever convince me that this nominee (Internet) should. Even if Al Gore accepts as Dave jestily suggested.
If anyone can help Nicole, myself and others in disbelief - please step forward
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