Now, please don't use this post to attack Geldof, who has done some wonderful charity work (much more than most of us) and deserves great praise for his work on LiveAid and the more recent Live8 (the later of which has apparently raised $100 million dollars for African aid).
Nevertheless, this is rather ridiculous, is it not? (and I have a feeling Bob Geldof would probably agree).
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Bob Geldof nominated for Nobel Peace Prize...
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3 comments:
With all due respect to Bob, whose contributions are irrefutable, this whole live8 success is more attributable to Bono. Bono was the guy in all the photo ops with world leaders, his stature gave the issue legs and he provided the ink to get momentum. If I had to choose, Bono would get the nod for elevating the issue to the front page. Geldof is Geldolf, but I wonder where this debate would be without Bono hounding the world leaders in front of any mic he could find.
Ursa,
I think I agree that Bono deserves more credit than Geldof for putting the issue of world poverty centre stage. Then again, Geldof isn't just responsible for Live8, but also for LiveAid, so while he's arguably less influential than Bono NOW, he has been doing this a bit longer (U2 PLAYED at LiveAid, Geldof ORGANIZED LiveAid, which is a significant difference), but it's true that Bono has been much more visible, especially of late, and he deserves a lot of credit for the great work he has done as well!
All that being said, I just think that for a multi-millionaire entertainment star to win the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE (!) they have to do something absolutely INCREDIBLE (like actually ENDING world hunger). There are so many deserving people out there in the world, many of whom get so little credit (and even less money) for the great work that they do, that I think giving this particular prize to someone like Geldof or Bono diminishes the maening of the prize, and I think I can say that without diminishing the wonderful work that these two fine men have done!
An illustration. Here's a list of people. Which name seems out of place:
The 14th Dalai Lama
Nelson Mandela & F.W. de Klerk
Lester Bowles Pearson
Mikhail Gorbachev
Desmond Tutu
Bono
Mother Teresa
Martin Luther King
George C. Marshall
That's all I'm saying...
:-)
Oh come on, what did that deadbeat Mother Teresa every do?
;)
Agree about Geldolf, I was speaking to the now, as opposed to historically. And agree again that it is not worthy of Nobel, but some recognition is not over the top either.
Funny how Nobel looks different with some historical context. Arafat now seems like a ridiculous choice, absolutely mindboggling, regardless of one agreement.
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