Obama's peace prize not worth such a fight

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
By Reg Henry,

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It was fun to watch the right-wing crank community having conniptions about President Barack Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

We connoisseurs of conniptions delighted in this show. What a special treat it was to see spluttering folks declare that the award was a joke and unimportant and then act as if it were the end of civilization.

Of course, the award was ridiculous, inasmuch as the president has done nothing yet to boost the share price of companies seeking to convert swords into plowshares. He has merely given voice to good intentions, which apparently have become subject to inflation in the eyes of the Nobel committee.

But worse things have happened -- perhaps Henry Kissinger winning the prize while fresh from bombing Cambodia? -- and something good needs to be said about encouraging those who encourage peace. I am here to say it today. We pause this program briefly for more conniptions.

Feeling better, boys and girls? Good, and let me reassure you that I am not a defeatist, an appeaser or a pacifist. Indeed, one of my favorite stories, perhaps apocryphal, concerns a pacifist who, while promoting the cause of peace at Speakers Corner in London's Hyde Park, stepped down from the podium to punch a particularly irritating heckler in the nose.

That is my sort of pacifist. I also subscribe to the saying, attributed to George Orwell, that: "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." I support rough men acting on my behalf and rough women too, because they tend to be more fun.

What I don't want them doing is being rough for rough sake. Violence usually begets only more violence. Let our warriors fight only as a last resort, not the first resort, as has been recent national policy.

The sanest words about Mr. Obama's honor were spoken by U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, a Pittsburgh-area Democrat: "People are going to say what they're going to say -- it's not like he was out there campaigning for this," Mr. Doyle said. "I don't know why any American would be unhappy that their president received a Nobel Peace Prize."

Unfortunately, I know. Never mind the swine flu, the biggest problem facing this country is that part of the population is suffering from testosterone poisoning combined with a strong psychological need for enemies.

You know that part of the Good Book that says "blessed are the peacemakers"? Those afflicted with this malady think it says: "Cursed are the peacemakers."

They believe that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. No, it isn't. The road to hell is usually paved with bad intentions, chest-thumping, testosterone-addled, saber-rattling, our-way-or-the-highway intentions, the sort of intentions that are certain to breed hatred and discord in the world and thus guarantee a steady stream of more enemies. (We have to have them, you know, because there's a military-industrial complex to feed.)

We just had eight dreary years of that, yet some say these tough-guy intentions kept the peace after 9/11. But that was no peace really. We cleared out the Taliban in Afghanistan but in swaggering around we forgot our focus and invaded Iraq (just a reminder -- no weapons of mass destruction, no al-Qaida link) and then let the bearded ones creep back into Afghanistan to complete its ruin.

Now, just in case the Taliban or al-Qaida are not up to the task of keeping right-wingers here at home in a constant state of agitation and fear, some politicians feel the need to gin up other enemies as substitute ogres, because one thing they learned when the Cold War ended was that they missed them terribly.

Unfortunately, Venezuela's bad man, Hugo Chavez, is too much a comic-opera buffoon to really inspire fear and Cuba's Fidel Castro is too old and moth-eaten. However, the Iranians have shown some sinister promise, which is why Mr. Obama is castigated for not goading them enough. While goading rarely works, it feels appropriately manly to those with testosterone poisoning.

Barack Obama was elected by the American people to try a different approach and the Nobel Peace Prize committee has recognized that he is trying. He may not succeed, but it's not too early to praise him for the effort. Eventually, the stock of companies beating swords into plowshares has to rise, otherwise our world will surely be destroyed -- which I guess will make those invested in war as the only way to solve problems really happy.

There is a time for war and a time for peace, a time for every purpose under heaven, even a time for a Nobel committee to put sinews onto hope. Ridiculous, yes, but good.

Reg Henry can be reached at rhenry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1668.

Read his blog "Reg on Wry" at post-gazette.com/forum. More articles by this author