is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
prize fighter.
upon first hearing that obama was awarded the nobel peace prize, I was surprised. it was unexpected, to be sure. I was not, however, surprised by the backlash, because backlash is the least creative thing a person can do (it is reaction, determined by outside forces rather than by your own creativity), and that is all I expect of most of the u.s. media, sadly.
as for me, the more I thought about it, the more the prize made sense. obama has done so much to change the climate of opinion about the u.s. in the larger world, and has made people think differently about international relations, what's possible in politics, and also what people think about people with dark skin.
anyone who wants proof that he has "made peace" wants the world to be simpler than it is. they want peace to be the opposite of war, leaving no room for all the peacekeeping and peacebuilding that has to go on in the midst of what seems to be neverending violence. they want a world that is not this world.
or maybe they just don't know that a great number of the nobel peace prize winners were given their awards for the promise they held, rather than for what they had already achieved.
then I read this blog entry by my friend john, and felt even more keenly why obama deserves the prize. you should read it too.
to all the people who are twittering or facebooking smartass messages about how they, too, deserve nobel prizes, I would ask them to compare what they've done to earn one next to what obama has accomplished. it is so easy to lay blame, as easy as it is to do nothing to change what you don't like about the world.
I hope obama will accomplish more, and that we won't be disappointed by what he does. but if we are, it will not be all his fault, given the political climate he's working in.
that's all for today. I'm in an airport restaurant getting ready to fly to SF to see my many beloveds there.
posted by slowly dying sidekick 3.
1:35 p.m. - October 10, 2009
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
