Nobel Prize Not So Noble Anymore         

          As this year’s Nobel Prize recipients are announced, I find myself thinking, ‘ho hum, is this of any interest to me?’  Somehow it just doesn’t have the same meaning as it once had.  Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel made a fortune from his inventions, including dynamite, and established the award named after him in his will.  Since 1895 an undiversified group of self-appointed Scandinavian elitists has wielded tremendous power in the world through their ability to select individual scholars from universities of their choice and from among politicians who they want to promote.  One has to wonder how such a small, elite group has been allowed to wield such power for more than 100 years without challenge. 

          In the case of the Nobel Peace Prize, it is almost as interesting to look back at who has been excluded from this honor, most notably Mahatma Gandhi and Ronald Reagan.  But even more indicative of the liberal political agenda of the selection committee are winners of this now dubious distinction such as Jimmy Carter, Al Gore and Yasser Arafat.  The entire legacy of the Nobel Prize truly suffered a blow to its prestige in 2009 with the nomination and ultimate selection of Barack Obama for the Peace Prize only eleven days after he took office as President of the United States.  To be sure, there have been, and will continue to be many outstanding individuals who receive the Nobel Prize, but I’m just not as impressed as I used to be.