So Sullivan recommends that Mousavi gets the Nobel Peace Prize instead of Obama. I wonder, is the Peace Prize about promoting peace or is it about promoting democracy? Mousavi has helped egg on riots and protests and pushed for change and all that lovely stuff, but as far as I know, Iran wasn’t actually at war with anybody. Mousavi has not done anything to promote the cause of peace at all. Indeed, he has likely done little more than promote the cause of Mousavi.
Erik Kain
Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.
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on The Mandate That Wasn’tThere isn't any indication that Trump negotiated with anybody. Unless you think floating a self-evid…
on The Mandate That Wasn’tThis is not 3D, let alone 11th dimensional chess. It's basic negotiating. Strategic concession, anch… on The Mandate That Wasn’tDoesn't seem plausible. Trump doesn't play 11th-dimensional chess and Gaetz apparently pulled out on… on The Mandate That Wasn’tGaetz always seemed like a negotiating tactic to me. A ready-made concession to get other nominees l…
on Open Mic for the week of 11/18/2024It was an IRBM. Still nuclear capable, but not quite as scary if you're not in Eastern Europe.
on Open Mic for the week of 11/18/2024I hope that there was a "by the way, this isn't a nuke" call on the red phone first. on The Mandate That Wasn’tOh, so you see what I did there.... Congratulations? But at last ... finally, something worth discus…
on The Mandate That Wasn’tI'm curious to see if he takes his seat in the next congress... I'd assume yes, but seeing some armc…
on The Mandate That Wasn’tGaetz may not be able to accept it but I think Trump just used him to see where the bar would be wit…
on The Mandate That Wasn’tLook for a soft landing at Heritage.
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No justice, something something.Report
All beer and no play makes Homer something something.Report
No that’s not right. What is it? All work and no beer makes Homer something something…?Report
No tv and no beer makes Homer something something.
“Go Crazy?”
“DON’T MIND IF I DO!!!”Report
Thank you. It’s been too long, apparently.Report
Well, to be somewhat more serious in the response, I remember when there was serious discussion over Dubble Dubya’s “Seriously? Green avatars? Seriously?” post. Has the earnestness in questioning dub-dub been replaced by a more hard-nosed realism on this particular topic?
For my part, I would have seen a Peace Prize going to somebody in Iran as, yes, up there with giving it to Tutu and/or the Dalai Lama. I would have been taken aback and said “whoa, they’re firing a shot across a bow, there”.
Obama getting it is *NOT*, in fact, making me think that there is a shot across anybody’s bow.
There are “he’s not George Bush” jokes, there are “you just know that Clinton’s head friggin’ *EXPLODED*” jokes, there are “let’s give him a Grammy” jokes, and, my favorite, the whole on Friday talking to my to-the-left-of-me co-workers and saying “did you hear that Obama won the Peace Prize?” and them putting their hands on their hips and asking “okay, what’s the friggin’ punchline?” responses that were far, far funnier than any of the jokes before that.
It seems to me that the Peace Prize could have been an earthquake. It was a pity that it was not used as such.Report
Giving the prize to Neda would have been a bad idea as well. It represents the idolization of victims above actual peacemakers, and while we should certainly have compassion for victims we should not let this blind us to true achievements in the field of peace.
Of course, idolizing victims is nowhere near as bad as idolizing perpetrators, which is what this year’s award has done.Report
You could say more or less the same about Martin Luther King. All those people marching in the streets getting their heads bashed in by the cops when they could have been sitting peacefully in the back of the bus.Report