Christopher Hitchens predicts that Al Gore will win the Nobel Peace Prize this year:
On Oct. 12, we shall hear again from Oslo, and I will be very surprised indeed if the peace prize is not awarded to Albert Gore Jr. (Don't ask what a campaign against global warming has done for "peace"; that would be like asking what Mother Teresa or Henry Kissinger had ever done to reduce global conflict. The impression is the main thing.)So, and if I am right, the former vice president will then complete a year in which An Inconvenient Truth has been awarded an Oscar and he has authored a best seller. Roll it round your tongue again: an Oscar, a best seller, and a Nobel Prize in the space of 12 months or so. Not bad.
He goes on to ponder whether or not this might bring Gore into the presidential race. I don't care about that right now. I do care about the Nobel Peace Prize. I realize that it is highly political and such. And we don't really remember past winners very well. Can you name the last five?
But Al Gore? For global warming? Huh? That would mean that he has done more than anyone else on Earth to bring about peace?
I'm sorry, I don't see it. I'm very, very pro-environment. I believe we are to be careful stewards of God's creation. I still don't see Al Gore on the list of potential nominees for the Peace Prize let alone being its recipient.
What has he done? He made a very good documentary. He is clearly committed to fighting for the Earth. But world peace? I'm sorry, I'm not there.
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and he was prophetic about the internet also (he did not "create" it, but he did advocate its development while in the Senate).
Thinker, I think you might be overgeneralizing. I'm not great at it, but I like to think. I've known a lot of nerds and liked most of them. I mainly find him annoying because he comes across as smug and patronizing. That's no reason not to listen, but it's a fine reason to avoid the acceptance speech.
Why Not? Who else could have gotten so many people a little more interested in the subject that will surely affect us all? As the advertising industry knows, it is often someone who is rather unappealing who makes us remember the message. Anyone seen a "head on" commercial lately?
Yeah, Doug, I admit it - wasn't my best - and did overgeneralize. But, I've heard so many people say something along the lines - "he thinks he is so smart." He is and they're not. Of course most of those people are members of my extended family and those family gatherings tend to raise my blood pressure just a tad. That's also what they have also said about me since I was about 5 - "She thinks she is so smart." So I moved - far far away. To give you an idea - one of my nieces was offered a job with Tom Delay - the offer came the same day as the indictment - so she didn't take it.
Gore does come across as patronizing at times, and I wouldn't want to have a beer with him or listen to music with Tipper - wish his sense of humor was as intact as his nerdiness.
Thinker is right: in a world of finite resources, encouraging so many people to think about the consequences of our consumptive lifestyle does contribute to peace for the future. His movie has converted many people to use less energy in their day-to-day living, and that's a wonderful thing. An overheated planet - more desert land, less accessible water, cities engulfed by oceans - is not going to be a planet with a lot of peace, as humans battle over scarce resources. Think about it.
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