h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am not sure which is the more interesting, that Bush and Blair are to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, (*exactly* like f**king for virginity), or that there has been almost no reportage of the fact.

Here, so you can read all about it, is the link:

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http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030508/80/dzjgh.html

Thursday May 8, 03:21 PM

OSLO (Reuters) - A Norwegian parliamentarian has nominated Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush for the Nobel Peace Prize, praising them for winning the war in Iraq.

"Sometimes it's necessary to use a small and effective war to prevent a much more dangerous war in the future," Jan Simonsen, a right-wing independent in Norway's parliament, told Reuters on Thursday.

"If nobody acted then Saddam Hussein could have produced weapons of mass destruction and, in five or 10 years, could have used them against Israel," he said.

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Once I had got over the feeling of physical nausea this item induced, what fascinated me was that this has hardly been reported in the UK, (so far as I can tell) - and I am tempted to wonder why. Are the media back 'on message' and reluctant to report something which will make Blair a laughing stock?

B

Hmmm. Nobel Peace Prize, eh? Very interesting.

So, War *is* peace. Very intriguing.

I certainly would have expected to see it reported in the press. Certainly those newspapers which have political philosophies which would *benefit* from Blair looking stupid.

The Nobel Peace Prize and people who engage in illegal and unecessary war do not mix. Even if the war was vital to prevent some imminent threat, and had the full backing of the UN Security Council, they would still be two people who pushed for war. Not peace.

Ste

I'm not convinced that the reporting has been *that* light, Ben. We were discussing it at work about a week ago.

Oh for God's sake. And Tom Lehrer said satire was dead when they gave it to Kissinger.

I think Egon's hit the nail on the head here: the force of spin to attempt to redefine our beliefs knows no bounds.

*shakes head in disbelief* what will they think of next?

I believe that the Norweigan politician is going to prove that black is white and get killed on the next zebra crossing...

Of course the really interesting thing in all this is that as double-speak becomes standard operating procedure for all governments, 1984 has been voted one of the greatest 100 books.

You'd think we'd have learnt to recognize what the book was trying to say if that many of us have read it, eh?

Ah, but that's the wonder of doublethink, my friend: we can simlultaneously recognise the insight of the novel while being fooled by exactly the tricks it predicted.

And even when we do spot it, we're as powerless as the book's protagonist to do anything about it!

(Cynical? Moi? Maybe just a little...)

"I'm not convinced that the reporting has been *that* light, Ben. We were discussing it at work about a week ago."

Good. I don't watch or listen to the news regularly, and only catch the news on the radio by happenstance, and the only reason I saw the page when I did was that I was picking up my yahoo mail.

I kept an eye and ear out for it for a few days, but given my extremely intermittent engagement with the world outside, it it not much of a surprise that I missed it.

B

It kind of fits though, doesn't it? I mean, Nobel made all his money out of high explosives didn't he? Perhaps it's just a customer reward scheme. Afterall, those B52's hammer f*ck out of you air miles...

Oh look, a flying pig!


At least it is so far only one person, that doesn't surprise me that much. He is obviously as nuts as the rest of their supporters. It was more if it was the whole of Norway's goverment doing it, that would be strange. And if Saddam made weapons of mass destruction and nuked Israel, maybe _he_ ought to get the peace prize. It would solve a few problems down there.

As I understand it, outmage, the whole point is that Nobel invented dynamite to make mining easier and was so disgusted at the way it was used to kill people that he donated some of his money as a prize for people who promoted peace. So no, it very much doesn't fit, unless you go with the whole "it was inevitable and we just made it less bad" bulls**t - and even then, its pushing it.

[See also edited entry on Alfred Nobel: A839072]

For the record IMSoP - I don't approve of oil grabs. I was being flippant.

Well, the Nobel peace prise is one of several nobel prises, almost none of which get reported, while even minor award cerimonies get terrestrial TV coverage.

*notices forum and is physically nauseated*

So who decides on the recipient of the prize? Could it be a publicity stunt for the 'far-right' and 'independant' politician?

I really don't know whether to of . I think I need to go and get very

*suppresses a giggle at gosho's brackets*

theres a petition against the nomination:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/302184339