It’s that time of year again, when a few forgotten scientists, a largely unread writer, and some organization or individual that may or may not have done something for World Peace are given Nobel prizes. The actual awards ceremony usually comes in December, but just so the winners have enough time to book a flight to Stockholm and rent a tux, the announcements are made round about this time.
But is the Nobel Prize what it seems, or is it the manifestation of something a lot more sinister?
Most people take it at face value, seeing it as a fitting conclusion to some presumably worthy scientific (or other) career – although most remain oblivious as to why this or that individual should win it over their peers. Most also remain decidedly foggy on how the prize winners are actually selected, both officially and with regard to the behind-the-scene string pulling and other factors that no doubt tip the scales this way or that.
But to see the Nobel Prize merely as an innocent award is to take it on its own terms, and thus to have your perceptions framed and shaped by it. This means you accept its projected image: as a fair and objective expression of "the progressive spirit of mankind" (a nebulous concept with admixtures of other nebulous concepts: 'science,' 'peace,' 'excellence,' 'univeralism,' etc.), and you also accept the implied association of this "positive" image with Scandinavia in general and Sweden in particular, without giving it too much thought.
In short, the Nobel Prize is subtle, under-the-radar, positive brainwashing for Sweden.
Most people take it at face value, seeing it as a fitting conclusion to some presumably worthy scientific (or other) career – although most remain oblivious as to why this or that individual should win it over their peers. Most also remain decidedly foggy on how the prize winners are actually selected, both officially and with regard to the behind-the-scene string pulling and other factors that no doubt tip the scales this way or that.
But to see the Nobel Prize merely as an innocent award is to take it on its own terms, and thus to have your perceptions framed and shaped by it. This means you accept its projected image: as a fair and objective expression of "the progressive spirit of mankind" (a nebulous concept with admixtures of other nebulous concepts: 'science,' 'peace,' 'excellence,' 'univeralism,' etc.), and you also accept the implied association of this "positive" image with Scandinavia in general and Sweden in particular, without giving it too much thought.
In short, the Nobel Prize is subtle, under-the-radar, positive brainwashing for Sweden.
