Friday, October 12, 2007

And the Nobel Prize for Credibility Assassination goes to...

...The Nobel Prize committee.

I have always considered the Nobel Prize to be an award for those who achieve excellence in a particular field.

Recently a University of Utah professor received it for discovering a method to genetically alter DNA in mice to simulate various diseases. Simply amazing stuff.

Nelson Mandela received it for his contribution to world peace, and having heard him speak in person, I think it was very well deserved.

Jimmy Carter got it for peace as well, and while I personally feel he does more to cause problems, you have to admire a man who tries his best to resolves situations without resorting to war.

Al Gore was just nominated to receive the award for his contribution to informing the Globe about the dangers of Climate Change. Well he has done a good job propogating this flawed philosophy, you would think that a committee such as the Nobel Prize committee would be able to rise above the hype that Global Warming has become.

There is one way in which I guess he may have earned it...

With politician on both sides of the political spectrum now running to jump on the Climate Change bandwagon, this is an issue which could have the potential to bring people on all sides together. By focussing on a common enemy (although in this case the enemy is just an illusion) it could have had the potential to bring the world together.

The flaws with this approach though are definitely worse than the potential problems with global climate change.

1. People are being manipulated to stand together on an issue because it is being used to instill fear into them. Fear is a great tool to shut down logical thinking and stimulate a group to follow a single idea, unquestioningly.

2. Almost everytime this is raised by a politician, they invariably end up promising legislation to prevent this calamity. The last thing this world needs is more government intervention and involvement.

3. Global warming is a myth. It's not science and at some point it will be debunked on a global level. I call the resulting effect of this, the 'Santa Claus Effect', because as a child, when I discovered the truth of Santa Claus, I started to wonder what else my parents had lied about. While it will cause people to question what they are told, which is good in and of itself, but it will also cause a significant amount of ill feeling and mistrust. Mistrust is something that politicians and other supporters of Climate Change deserve right now, but I don't think it would form a very good basis for a functional society.

So in summary, while the Nobel prize may indeed be a great honor to receive, awarding it to someone like Al Gore, seriously diminishes that honor. Sorry guys, but you really should have thought this one through.

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