culture fix

I think everyone was really shocked by this: the main contenders had been thought to be from the following short list:

Sima Samar: a doctor from Afghanistan, the first woman from there to become a doctor, and head of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission;
Piedad Córdoba: a Columbian Humanitarian Exchange Negotiator, herself formerly kidnapped then exiled to Canada;
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad: an outspoken Jordanian author trying to bring peace and understanding between the Christian and Muslim religions & societies;
Hu Jia: a Chinese activist and dissident who's been a leader of the Chinese democracy movement;
or Morgan Tsvangirai: the prime minister of Zimbabwe, who has spoken out against his government's massacres and has been (as well as Córdoba) the target of several assassination attempts.

Obama wasn't even on the short list, especially considering he's still fighting two wars by the largest military in the world with no exit strategy, hardly the example of a proponent of peace. Some analysts believe his nomination was meant as a slap in the face to Bush, while others that it was meant to spur on Obama's and America's efforts towards peace. Considering the continuing atrocities the United States has been guilty of throughout the decades, I'm surprised any American has ever achieved the award, but believe we need all the help we can get.

I personally am offended that Obama is the recipient, as he has done little towards peace that I'm aware of, and certainly not anything approaching that of the previously named contenders. However, I suspect my reasons are different than most white Americans, who probably simply don't like that it went to the first black American ever, and probably think it should go to the man who changed the definition, Dick 'War is Peace' Cheney.