Well, if it hasn't been before, the Nobel Peace Prize has definitely been cheapened by the selection of Al Gore. Before anyone gets all mad at me, I don't have any particular problem with Al Gore. He's probably a fine guy and he seems to care about environmental issues, at least as much as someone who lives in a mansion, flies private planes, and drives in limousines can. Yeah, I know, he's supposedly trying to be carbon neutral. Sure.
My problem is that Al Gore didn't really do anything. He took other people's science and narrated a documentary about it. A documentary that many agree played a little fast and loose with that science. Very few experts on the subject doubt that global warming is occurring but some of the details are still up for grabs. Nonetheless, all Al Gore did was narrate the movie. And frankly, while some of the science of the movie was interesting, I found it to be a pretty boring film overall.
As a result of the popularity of that movie, Al Gore has now built himself a nice little cottage industry by somehow becoming the nation's de facto face of global warming. Again, this is no big deal for Al Gore. He a politician for christsakes. Flying around giving speeches and spouting off his opinions is what he's done for a career. This is nothing that anyone else comfortable with public speaking couldn't have done. If I would have been chosen to narrate the film, I could have then flown around the world giving speeches and testimony before Congress. The difference is that I'm a nobody and Al Gore is a celebrity. There are plenty of environmental activists out there with far more knowledge than Al Gore but because they aren't public figures, Congress doesn't want to hear them speak and colleges don't invite them to give commencement addresses.
So the reality is that Al Gore won this award because he is a celebrity. Not because he's made any significant difference in the issue of global warming. Simply because he's a public figure who was Vice-President and ran for President himself. As a result, the media pays attention to him and that has given him the forum on which to expound. But make no mistake, his speeches haven't led to any tangible benefits like other Nobel winners who actually create, discover, or invent something. His prize is because he's famous. Same reason he has an Oscar and an Emmy.
The sad thing is that Al Gore gets the attention from the media that he gets while the real scientists behind the scenes, some of whom are equally eloquent, toil in obscurity and constant funding concerns. Then again, this is typical of Americans' love of veneer. We rush to embrace the celebrity who talks but doesn't really do anything but we ignore the scientists who are really trying to make a difference. And we don't want our tax dollars increased or spent on the real research that potentially makes the difference Al Gore gets paid to blather about. I think it is ridiculous that this talking head now has a Nobel prize.
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I would mention that Gore is a co-winner of the Prize with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The way the administration has blatantly mocked the UN's role the last eight years is just fucking beyond the pale, and I'm glad the Nobel Committee is sending a message that the UN matters.
I get what you're saying, but frankly, Al Gore is one of the reasons I'm not completely embarrassed to be an American. Cheesy Hollywood goob or not, Gore is probably one of the few American leaders still respected by citizens and leaders in other countries. Someday, we are sure as hell going to need that when we have to start making up with the rest of the world, if in fact we ever can. Perhaps that might be where the "peace" part comes in.
100% agreed, don!
we shovel out awards to people who do very little hard work or anything ground-shakingly innovative.
it's all a popularity contest.
we are so shallow & lazy, it's disgusting. this is the problem with america.
Jenny - Thanks and nice to hear from you!
Mando - Yeah, I know he was a co-winner but he's getting all the pub. And I'm not convinced he's genuine. I think Al Gore, like many politicians, is thirsty for praise, attention, and power. He's finally found a topic on which he can achieve those things. He tried with technology in the past and failed. Now he's latched onto global warming. Maybe I'm a cynic but he still appears a bit too oily for my tastes.
I do think Al Gore's interest in this topic is genuine; at least, it seems that way to me.
That said, I think he's a big ass.
None the less, any publicity toward this cause is good. I'm not an expert on global warming, but I do think that it's coming. The sooner we get going on it, the better.
...even if the big ass is leading the charge.
Look, y'all know Gore is from the South, and people just don't know what to do with a smart Southerner. You might also recall that Gore wrote a book called Earth in the Balance, so it's not as though he's completely pulling this stuff out of his ass.
Remember when we had smart presidents? I'm gettin' misty-eyed just thinking about it.
Yeah, well if Gore's so smart and passionate, where was all that when he ran for President? Look, again, I'm not saying he's not a nice guy. Nor am I saying that the attention he's brought to global warming isn't worthy. I'm simply saying that all of a sudden Al Gore has become this genius and so charismatic and just the guy on everyone's hot list. My point is that he probably wasn't as bad as he was made out to be during his presidential run but at the same time he's probably not as great as he's being made out to be now.
Well, I agree that Gore is smart. However, he's still - to me - a big ass. He's arrogant and I hate that. Yeah, most politicians are, but Gore seems to take it to an extreme.
Like I said though, I'm glad for anybody raising the awareness on Global Warming. Maybe it will help.
The only other thought I have related to this is wondering whether or not humans are worth saving.
Ahhh Boring, now you've hit the nail on the head. That's a whole other post. I'm not convinced people are important enough to save. That's what always cracks me up when people talk about "destroying the planet" as if we have the power to do that. We may ruin it for our form of life, but Earth would recover.
To be honest, I just like that you keep referring to Gore as a big ass.
Golly, I would expect the two of you to be the first to remind everyone that humans aren't the only species on earth, and certainly not the species suffering the most from climate change.
Mando - Yeah, that is a good point. You know me well enough to know how much I care about animals.
None the less, Gore is a big ass.
(...sorry. Just wanted to make Don laugh.) :-)
Mando - That is a great point. This is something I've actually given a lot of thought to. What's better for the other species of the world, us damaging our environment to the point that we potentially go extinct or us surviving and thriving? Seems like either option results in the destruction of a lot of other species. I guess in the long run I think it is best for humans not to be here. In our current incarnation, we're incredibly inefficient. We have to destroy so much just to live or lives. Maybe in our more "primitive" days when we lived more like other animals we were less damaging to the environment but we can't go back. So, I guess that while I feel for the other animals we're hurting, I still have to hope we're rushing headlong into extinction.
Well Said.
Hey Vixen - Thanks for popping by! Don't be a stranger.
You're right about that, Don. I mean, we could go back, not all the way of course, but I know folks who lived quite simply, rudimentarily even by most of our standards. But humans don't want to go back, don't want to change their habits, a point you've made over and over. They want to buy the big boxes of frozen burgers at Sam's Club because it's less expensive. They want to justify their big gas guzzlers based on family size, activities of their kids, safety, the weather hazards, blah blah blah. (I do love my Subaru but I know I'll have to downsize it). We all have to have three or four computers, cell phones, you name it, because Shiva forbid we should be the slightest bit out of touch. It all goes back to your point that humans really don't want to change, and you know the rule -- change or die.
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