Norman Borlaugh: the Forgotten Benefactor of Humanity...

Relatively few Americans know anything at all about Norman Borlaug, quite possibly never having heard of him at all.  I first heard about him myself when reviewing American winners of the Nobel Peace Prize a few years ago.  Borlaug stands out amongst them for actually having accomplished something real and lasting – revolutionizing agriculture around the world, enabling a hungry world to eat.  I've since read several books about him.  There's no doubt that Borlaug's teachings saved lives – perhaps as many as a billion.  The Atlantic put a good 1997 article about him online; it was written while he was still alive...

A Flying Pig Moment...

Thomas Freidman is a columnist for the New York Times, writing with a predictably liberal slant.  It's rare for me to agree with him on substance, though I've enjoyed his writing style and cherish him as a level-headed source of information about the liberal mindset.

So it was with great surprise that I read his column about the award of the Nobel Peace prize to Obama.  It's a terrific piece that I think is one of the better reactions any commentator has had.  A sample:

Here is the speech I hope he will give:

“Let me begin by thanking the Nobel committee for awarding me this prize, the highest award to which any statesman can aspire. As I said on the day it was announced, ‘I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize.’ Therefore, upon reflection, I cannot accept this award on my behalf at all.

“But I will accept it on behalf of the most important peacekeepers in the world for the last century — the men and women of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

“I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, to liberate Europe from the grip of Nazi fascism. I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers and sailors who fought on the high seas and forlorn islands in the Pacific to free East Asia from Japanese tyranny in the Second World War.

“I will accept this award on behalf of the American airmen who in June 1948 broke the Soviet blockade of Berlin with an airlift of food and fuel so that West Berliners could continue to live free. I will accept this award on behalf of the tens of thousands of American soldiers who protected Europe from Communist dictatorship throughout the 50 years of the cold war.

“I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers who stand guard today at outposts in the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan to give that country, and particularly its women and girls, a chance to live a decent life free from the Taliban’s religious totalitarianism.

But don't miss the whole thing (even if it is at the New York Times).

Nice work, Mr. Freidman!

Obama Wins the Nobel Peace Prize...

Really, he did.  I read it on several news sites this morning.  I don't think it's a parody, and it's not an April Fool's Day joke – it is, after all, October. 

I guess I have a mistaken notion about the Nobel prizes.  I've always thought that they were awarded for actually accomplishing something.  Evidently I was wrong.  Even the Nobel Committee's announcement confirms this:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.

So it's the effort that matters, not the accomplishment.  This reminds me of the modern approach to education in many school systems, wherein students are assessed not so much on how well the know the material, but rather on the effort they made.  It doesn't matter if you get the right answer to a math problem; what matters is whether you tried.

Apparently that's also the case with the Nobel Peace Prize.  Only efforts matter.  And maybe not even them – I've heard a lot of talk about Obama's efforts, but I'm unaware of any actual efforts he's made.  Maybe there are some secret efforts that the Nobel Committee has been briefed on that us mere citizens have not.  Or maybe the Nobel Committee has an odd and unexpected sense of humor.  Or maybe they're just all crazy.

The latter seems the most likely.

So now Obama joins a long list of other winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.  Many of these winners are indeed worthy and admirable people of great accomplishment: Mikhail Gorbachev, Elie Wiessel, and Nelson Mandela among them.  But there is also an embarrassing list of losers who have won this prize: Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Mohamed ElBaradei, Kofi Annan, and Yassar Arafat.  In that context, Obama's selection fits right in.


What a crazy, upside-down world we live in!