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We’re From Exxon-Mobil, We’re Here To Help You.
As Gavin predicted, giving the Nobel Prize to Al Gore has caused much gnashing of teeth, wailing, keening, rending of garments and cranial explosions among the usual suspects. So far my favorite comes from John Berlau who receives a pile of wingnut welfare from the Exxon-Mobil funded Competitive Enterprise Institute and who unleashes his jeremiad over at a place that rather humorously bills itself as “The American Thinker.” (Uh-huh. Rrrriiiiight.)
Berlau, apparently not one to shy away from hyperbole, thinks that giving the Nobel to Gore is the worst thing to ever happen since, say, Brown v. Board of Education or, alternatively, the death of Ronald Reagan:
Al Gore has won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. This choice, more than any other Nobel Committee selection, marks the end of a 105-year era.
Teh. Worst. Nobel. Evah. Worse. Than. Even. That. PEA-nut. Farmer.
In direct contradiction of Alfred Nobel’s last will and testament, the selection of Gore essentially means the Peace Prize can no longer be said to be an award for improving the condition of humankind. Looking at Gore’s writing, it’s far from clear that Gore even believes that humanity is his most important priority.
But, at the very least, the stated aims of Carter and even Arafat were the improvement of human life. Gore, by contrast, does not even profess improving the human condition as his fundamental goal.Rather, his stated desire is to stop human activity that he sees as ruining what he calls the “ecosystem.”
And since no humans actually, you know, live in the ecosystem, Berlau’s argument makes absolute sense.
And then we have some bonus wingnuttery from Berlau:
Awarding the prize to Gore in 2007 is the equivalent of honoring the Luddites who tried to stop the beneficial technologies of Alfred Nobels’s [sic] day.
Ooooooh. Berlau whips out the argumentum ad Ludditeum. Sadly, he seems to be confused about, er, dates and actual history and things. The Luddites were British textile workers who between 1811 and 1813 destroyed sewing machines and otherwise protested technological advances of the time. Alfred Nobel was born two decades later in 1833. Oopsie.
Clif adds:
A troll dropped by in the comments to extol a Wall Street Journal editorial (paid subscription required) that suggested some better alternatives than Al Gore for the Nobel Peace Prize. Here is my favorite suggestion from the WSJ:
Or to the people of Iraq, who bravely work to rebuild and reunite their country amid constant threats to themselves and their families from terrorists who deliberately target civilians.
Apparently, only foreigners have been killing and blowing up the people of Iraq. Well, at least you can say that the WSJ showed a bit of restraint in not suggesting that Bush and Cheney share the prize.
The WSJ also suggests a number of posthumous prizes, apparently blissfully unaware that posthumous awards of Nobel prizes are not permitted. I guess that the Murdoch cost cuts are already in place and that the editors have all had their Internet connections turned off.
caliph garrett said,
October 13, 2007 at 15:14
Luddites smashed the time machines that would have allowed them to be Nobelsesese’s contemporaries.
Stupid Luddites.
Voice of Reason said,
October 13, 2007 at 15:34
WSJ has a good editorial on this today.
In brief: Why give the prize to Burmese monks, or to Russian or Egyptian or Lebanese or Chinese or North Korean pro-democracy workers - I mean, they only risk their lives for the cause of freedom - when you can award it to an anti-Bush politician in service of a pet leftisy cause?
Mathias said,
October 13, 2007 at 15:37
As we say in Sweden:
“Don’t throw clogs in the nitroglycerin factory”
Patkin said,
October 13, 2007 at 15:38
WSJ has a good editorial
Four words and three letters in, and already you’re wrong.
MzNicky said,
October 13, 2007 at 15:45
Voice of Reason: Were the “Burmese monks” nominated this year? How about “Russian or Egyptian or Lebanese or Chinese or North Korean pro-democracy workers”? My understanding is that in order to win a Nobel Peace Prize, one must first be nominated.
Of course wingnut heds are exploding over this. There’s something very basic about the whole concept they don’t understand. Like, the whole PEACE/humanity thing.
J— said,
October 13, 2007 at 15:51
By smashing machines instead of blowing them up with TNT, the Luddites preemptively rejected Alfred Nobel and his future contribution to the technology of destruction.
I once had a pet leftisy, but it fought too much with my pet rightisy, so I gave it to Al and Tipper Gore. And that’s the rest of the story.
Nullifidian said,
October 13, 2007 at 15:59
WSJ has a good editorial on this today.
In brief: Why give the prize to Burmese monks, or to Russian or Egyptian or Lebanese or Chinese or North Korean pro-democracy workers - I mean, they only risk their lives for the cause of freedom - when you can award it to an anti-Bush politician in service of a pet leftisy cause?
Would the “Russian…pro-democracy workers” include people like Garry Kasparov, who believes, by institutional affiliation with the Center for Security Policy, in “the time-tested philosophy of promoting international peace through American strength”?
It’s not difficult for me to see why anyone who adheres to that principle might not be getting a Nobel Peace Prize this year.
And in case it has slipped the memory of the WSJ, you can tell them for me that Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Jeff Fecke said,
October 13, 2007 at 16:12
And in case it has slipped the memory of the WSJ, you can tell them for me that Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Who’s that? Some Mexican? Why can’t a real Amurican hero like Rush Limbaugh get the award?
Outside The Tent said,
October 13, 2007 at 16:24
[...] for more on the Gore prize, go see my post today at Sadly, No! Permalink No [...]
Jrod said,
October 13, 2007 at 16:39
Heads up Clif: Berlau, apparently not one to shy away from hyperbole, thinks that giving the Gore to Nobel is the worst thing to ever happen
I woulda sent you an email, but your name isn’t on the contact form. :( I guess it is sorta funny…
Clif said,
October 13, 2007 at 16:43
Thanks, Jrod. Fixed. Although I almost left it, because it was sorta funny, although I’m not sure why.
jimmiraybob said,
October 13, 2007 at 16:52
Time schmime. The young wingnut mind is a complex mix of vacuum, caused by an absence of fact and analytical skills, and dense regions of stupid. The stupid regions tend to accrete as the mind matures and become compact dense bodies randomly whirring around the cranial cavity bending time and space and causing a warping of empirical reality.
A single, fully developed wingnut mind is an awesome thing to imagine. But, this reality dialation effect is known to amplify over great distances by use of interconnecting tubes and other forms of more primitive communications. More than one wingnut thrust into a single confining space will cause vast cosmic disruption and should be avoided at all costs.
Wingnut minds tend to orbit central authoritarian bodies creating galaxies of misinformation and bile - the stronger the authoritarian force the deeper and stronger the bile and and potential for catastrophic consequences. These galaxies are given names by wingnutimers, such as John Birch -1, Coulter X1938, and Oxy Limbaugh Major. Sometimes galaxies come together in massive displays of violently exploding dumbshittery and assholiation, with the most recently observed occurrence known as the Campaign toward RNC 08.
This has been another science moment.
Snorghagen said,
October 13, 2007 at 16:52
John Berlau is also the author of the internationally acclaimed Eco-Freaks, which comes complete with a peace-sign flashing Dirty Fucking Hippie on the cover.
You’d think that Exxon could afford better shills.
robert green said,
October 13, 2007 at 16:53
i propose a new prize: the Al Gore, to be given to whomever will make wingnuts the angriest and further their disassociation from reality.
about which, this: it really must make your head spin to notice that it wasn’t just gore, it was also the IPCC, a panel of 2000 of the world’s leading scientists working in concert to come up with consensus. first, you have to deal with that consensus, which is alarming–they seem to be saying that a) global warming is real (head starts to throb) b) that it is anthropogenic (after wingnut looks up word, head starts to pulsate) and that c) these are conservative (wingnut gets excited, then realizes word has more than one meaning) inputs that could be best case scenarios (head starts to bulge in various places) and that d) they support what al gore has been saying (which leads to.. http://www.esplatter.com/images/am/explode.gif
Lame Man said,
October 13, 2007 at 17:21
These people are just pining for a “Road Warrior” like existence. Cause when the apocalypse comes, they are just going to rule teh world! In leather chaps and bondage gear!
InsaneInTheCheneyBrain said,
October 13, 2007 at 17:48
Can they please have the moment by themselves where they realize their movie-based fantasies are bullshit and they die starving in the postapocalyptic desert, and the rest of us can get back to our lives?
tb said,
October 13, 2007 at 17:49
Shit, why not give it to “YOU”?
Duros62 said,
October 13, 2007 at 17:50
Or to the people of Iraq, who bravely work to rebuild and reunite their country amid constant threats to themselves and their families from terrorists who deliberately target civilians.
Soooo..everybody in Iraq gets a dollar? Woot!
Fats Durston said,
October 13, 2007 at 17:54
Jimmy Carter: He’s history’s worst monster!
Al Gore: He’s history’s worsterest monster!
Smiling Mortician said,
October 13, 2007 at 18:00
violently exploding dumbshittery and assholiation
I love science talk.
g said,
October 13, 2007 at 18:02
I see. It appears that there is a flawed selection process for the Nobel.
Someone gets nominated, and I presume there is supporting documentation and testimonials from both impartial sources and experts in the field that attest to how deserving the nominee is. The panel granting the award compares all such nominations and makes their choice.
In future, I think the selection process should include a second step - the one where the panel tunes in to Rush Limbaugh and goes online to WorldNewsNet and Hot Air, and vets the nominees. Surely if they had done that they would have come up with the significant fact that Al Gore is fat and looks stoopit with a beard, and they would have eliminated him from the finalists.
Rufus said,
October 13, 2007 at 18:16
It should have been given to that noble creature, champion of human rights everywhere and incorruptible saint, the Gas Pump. Any other result is an irreversible tragedy of nightmarish proportions.
No?
J— said,
October 13, 2007 at 18:17
An additional advantage to g’s vetting process: It would’ve screened out the global-government Trojan horse IPCC, because the distinguished wingnut panelists would have said, “I can’t understand half these people. Why in the world would anyone give the Nobel Prize to someone who either doesn’t speak English or speaks it with a funny accent? Next!”
Pere Ubu said,
October 13, 2007 at 18:28
Cause when the apocalypse comes, they are just going to rule teh world! In leather chaps and bondage gear!
And double-layered wetsuits.
J— said,
October 13, 2007 at 18:41
Off topic, but if you have the time and interest, check out the lawsuit (pdf) filed against Oral Roberts University (via Pam Spaulding).
Bizarro World said,
October 13, 2007 at 18:43
Al Gore: “If the icecaps melt, millions of people will be driven from their homes.”
John Berlau: “Why do you hate people?” [turns on TV, looks for "Dora the Explorer"]
Righteous Bubba said,
October 13, 2007 at 18:55
If only Oral could have been Oral Robertson.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 13, 2007 at 19:15
Cause when the apocalypse comes, they are just going to rule teh world! In leather chaps and bondage gear!
I’m searching for my pistol crossbow, now.
0oopps! I mean, now.
mikey said,
October 13, 2007 at 20:07
These people are just pining for a “Road Warrior” like existence. Cause when the apocalypse comes, they are just going to rule teh world! In leather chaps and bondage gear!
I can really see this working for Coulter. Although I suppose she might recoil a bit from the “Ayatollah of Rock N Rollah” title…
mikey
Professor Fate said,
October 13, 2007 at 20:38
Luddites always get bad press - they were, if memory serves, skilled weavers who’s livelyhood was being destoryed by the mills - so from their point of view the mills weren’t doing them any good at all (not to mention the lives of the children working in the mills) but the mill owners got rich - I guess that’s what wingnuts mean by “improving the condition of mankind. “
Lesley said,
October 13, 2007 at 21:54
The CBC interviewed (I’m ashamed to say) some wingnut from the Competitive Enterprise Institute yesterday who said that corporations don’t have political agendas (like Gore) and depriving the world of traditional energy sources will only increase poverty.
Lesley said,
October 13, 2007 at 21:58
Wow, John Berlau is one sleazy looking character.
piotr said,
October 13, 2007 at 22:04
Wingnuts are so sad. Granted, this was the worst Nobel Peace Prize Award ever, but look at other ones: Arafat, Carter, Rigoberta Menchu, International Atomic Energy Agency and Mohamed ElBaradei, United Nations and Kofi Annan, International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Jody Williams. Yet, every year wingnuts pine and hope, only to dejected once more. Shouldn’tthey get someone to fund
half Coco de Mer award, for which some good people could qualify on regular basis?
piotr said,
October 13, 2007 at 22:07
Editing and checking if links work is nearly impossible. Of course, I thought that someone could find an entire Coco de Mer award, or two nutty billionaires could do it together.
¡El Gato Negro! said,
October 13, 2007 at 22:07
Dead-Reagan-humper Merrill “Two last names” Matthews has also written about alternative solutions to global warming wheech are under attack by tree-hugging luddite-o-fascists, and you don’t have to go to any old think tank to find Merrill, he gets airtime on NPR.
Pfui.
piotr said,
October 13, 2007 at 22:10
Leskey: “Competitive Enterprise Institute yesterday who said that corporations don’t have political agendas (like Gore)”.
It reminds me interview given by the spokeperson of Attilla the Hun who complained that the opponents of his boss have political agenda, while he just wants to rape and pillage.
A Bus Ride to Heaven said,
October 13, 2007 at 22:14
See the problem was the weaver’s didn’t file any Intellectual Property rights complaints. They should have just sued for licensing violations.
DavidTC said,
October 13, 2007 at 22:19
Considering that the technology that Nobel is most famous for is dynamite, which he devotely wished he *could* smash up, the concept is doubly stupid. Nobel Prizes are an attempt to ‘undo’ a destructive technology, exactly like the Luddites tried to do.
sophie brown said,
October 13, 2007 at 22:59
I don’t even see why the wingnuts care. The LOATHE peace. Peace isn’t muscular. Peace is so last century. Only pansies work for peace. I would have thought that winning the peace prize would only confirm what a loser Gore is.
objectivelypro said,
October 14, 2007 at 5:46
The CBC interviewed (I’m ashamed to say) some wingnut from the Competitive Enterprise Institute yesterday
And CTV felt the need to get the thoroughly debunked Tim Ball to comment on Gore’s award.
Sophist, FCD said,
October 14, 2007 at 12:46
What I want to know is what the hell is going on here:
I mean, it’s not like Gore made the word up. That’s not what Al Gore calls the “ecosystem”, that’s what everyone with a dictionary and two fucking brain cells to rub together calls the “ecosystem”.
Nullifidian said,
October 15, 2007 at 20:14
What I want to know is what the hell is going on here:
I mean, it’s not like Gore made the word up. That’s not what Al Gore calls the “ecosystem”, that’s what everyone with a dictionary and two fucking brain cells to rub together calls the “ecosystem”.
It seems to me that you answered your own question.