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misscamSo, following the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, I've heard, seen or read the following claims:
- Norway doesn't have its head screwed on right.
- Norway has given out the award because we've been invaded by muslims here.
- Norwegians are terrorists.
- Norwegians are actually Swedish liberals who have been 'excited by black iconography' and are actually being racist in giving out the Nobel Peace Prize.
- Norwegians are being condescending.
- Norway is north of Sweden. (No, it's mostly west of.)
- Norwegians are naive and self-flagellating and whiter than Sweden.
- Norwegians are decendents of Vikings and thus don't understand the meaning of peace. (Yeah, we haven't started wars in Scandinavia for centuries, clearly we know nothing at all about peace.)
- Norwegians are Nordic lefties who have drank the Obama Kool-aid looking to stick it to America.
- Norwegians have aimed to help Obama pass a healthcare plan. (Hey, I predicted this on on Twitter yesterday!)
- Norwegians are Quislings that help hold fraud elections in Afghanistan and give awards to other Quislings. (Yeah, not like Quisling was deeply hated in Norway or anything - oh, wait...)
- Norway is the next France.
- Norwegians have something 'the matter with them' and gave to award to get Obama to visit Norway.
- Norwegians like their presidents the same way they like their metal - black.
- Norway doesn't produce anything of use Americans could boycott. (Yeah, not like we have oil or anything.)
- Norway would also give the Nobel Peace Prize to Roman Polanski. (This one actually repulses me on amazing amount of levels.)
- Obama bribed Norway to give the award with stimulus money.
- It's all about Norway's awkward-foreign way of wanting to be in the in-crowd.
- Norwegians are trying to conquer the US with European socialism. (Hey, I predicted that one too!)
- Norway doesn't know about Twitter. (Oh hahahaha.)
- Norway is a bunch of idiots better suited to be called Noway.
- Norwegians are ignorant damn liberal Euro-trash and apparently we have ACORN here, too.
- Norway probably collaborated with Hitler during WWII. (Actually, we were invaded, but thanks for playing!)
- Norway should be invaded.
- Norwegians are anti-semetic and this is another sign of our anti-Jew agenda.
- Norway is apparently Swedish for "Sweden". (*facepalm*)
- Hitler had a bigger influence on Norway than perviously thought.
Sigh.
I see at least one Norwegians newspaper has been getting a lot of angry e-mails from Americans, too.
So, in case you have missed a few vital point, here is how the Nobel Peace Prize actually work:
- Alfred Nobel was a very rich Swede, who in his will set out that he wanted achivements in medicine, physics, literature, chemistry and peace to be honoured with an annual award. The money part of the award comes from the means he left.
- For whatever reasons of his own, he decided that the Norwegian Parliament was to be the one to award the Nobel Peace Prize, while Sweden had the responsibility for the others. Why he divided it like that, we cannot be sure as he didn't say himself, but there are a couple of likely theories out there.
- The Norwegian Parliament appoints a committee according to the stipulations in the will, and with a few of their own - while the people in the committee do represent parties in Parliament, they cannot currently serve in it or be in government. This to make the committee a little more independent.
- The Norwegian people have no say in the award, do not vote in it and have only a tiny indirect influence through elections to Parliament, since the set-up of Parliament will play into who is appointed to the committee.
- It is not awarded by Norway the country. The committee is independent, possibly a bit more so than Nobel had in mind, even. This is by choice of Parliament, who wants the committee to have that independence.
- Norwegian people often disagree with the award. Norwegian politicians often disagree with the award, actually. It's not an award that represents Norway, though it can at times reflect certain Norwegian values.
I actually know the leader of the Nobel Committee (he and dad were in politics at the same time and have many mutual friends) and well, this is just like his kind of thinking. (A lot of fellow Norwegians I've talked to have also remarked this is 'typic Jagland'.) If you read this misconceptions about the Nobel Peace Prize it's the last sentence this one is really all about. I can't say I excatly agree in this case, but we'll see how it plays out.
Ironically, this week Norway was also named best country in the world to live again and yesterday was Leif Eriksson Day in the US. Some timing.
Now, to do a week's planning of teaching or attempt to write something... Bleh, sometimes I hate choices.
- Norway doesn't have its head screwed on right.
- Norway has given out the award because we've been invaded by muslims here.
- Norwegians are terrorists.
- Norwegians are actually Swedish liberals who have been 'excited by black iconography' and are actually being racist in giving out the Nobel Peace Prize.
- Norwegians are being condescending.
- Norway is north of Sweden. (No, it's mostly west of.)
- Norwegians are naive and self-flagellating and whiter than Sweden.
- Norwegians are decendents of Vikings and thus don't understand the meaning of peace. (Yeah, we haven't started wars in Scandinavia for centuries, clearly we know nothing at all about peace.)
- Norwegians are Nordic lefties who have drank the Obama Kool-aid looking to stick it to America.
- Norwegians have aimed to help Obama pass a healthcare plan. (Hey, I predicted this on on Twitter yesterday!)
- Norwegians are Quislings that help hold fraud elections in Afghanistan and give awards to other Quislings. (Yeah, not like Quisling was deeply hated in Norway or anything - oh, wait...)
- Norway is the next France.
- Norwegians have something 'the matter with them' and gave to award to get Obama to visit Norway.
- Norwegians like their presidents the same way they like their metal - black.
- Norway doesn't produce anything of use Americans could boycott. (Yeah, not like we have oil or anything.)
- Norway would also give the Nobel Peace Prize to Roman Polanski. (This one actually repulses me on amazing amount of levels.)
- Obama bribed Norway to give the award with stimulus money.
- It's all about Norway's awkward-foreign way of wanting to be in the in-crowd.
- Norwegians are trying to conquer the US with European socialism. (Hey, I predicted that one too!)
- Norway doesn't know about Twitter. (Oh hahahaha.)
- Norway is a bunch of idiots better suited to be called Noway.
- Norwegians are ignorant damn liberal Euro-trash and apparently we have ACORN here, too.
- Norway probably collaborated with Hitler during WWII. (Actually, we were invaded, but thanks for playing!)
- Norway should be invaded.
- Norwegians are anti-semetic and this is another sign of our anti-Jew agenda.
- Norway is apparently Swedish for "Sweden". (*facepalm*)
- Hitler had a bigger influence on Norway than perviously thought.
Sigh.
I see at least one Norwegians newspaper has been getting a lot of angry e-mails from Americans, too.
So, in case you have missed a few vital point, here is how the Nobel Peace Prize actually work:
- Alfred Nobel was a very rich Swede, who in his will set out that he wanted achivements in medicine, physics, literature, chemistry and peace to be honoured with an annual award. The money part of the award comes from the means he left.
- For whatever reasons of his own, he decided that the Norwegian Parliament was to be the one to award the Nobel Peace Prize, while Sweden had the responsibility for the others. Why he divided it like that, we cannot be sure as he didn't say himself, but there are a couple of likely theories out there.
- The Norwegian Parliament appoints a committee according to the stipulations in the will, and with a few of their own - while the people in the committee do represent parties in Parliament, they cannot currently serve in it or be in government. This to make the committee a little more independent.
- The Norwegian people have no say in the award, do not vote in it and have only a tiny indirect influence through elections to Parliament, since the set-up of Parliament will play into who is appointed to the committee.
- It is not awarded by Norway the country. The committee is independent, possibly a bit more so than Nobel had in mind, even. This is by choice of Parliament, who wants the committee to have that independence.
- Norwegian people often disagree with the award. Norwegian politicians often disagree with the award, actually. It's not an award that represents Norway, though it can at times reflect certain Norwegian values.
I actually know the leader of the Nobel Committee (he and dad were in politics at the same time and have many mutual friends) and well, this is just like his kind of thinking. (A lot of fellow Norwegians I've talked to have also remarked this is 'typic Jagland'.) If you read this misconceptions about the Nobel Peace Prize it's the last sentence this one is really all about. I can't say I excatly agree in this case, but we'll see how it plays out.
Ironically, this week Norway was also named best country in the world to live again and yesterday was Leif Eriksson Day in the US. Some timing.
Now, to do a week's planning of teaching or attempt to write something... Bleh, sometimes I hate choices.