The statement was signed by 103 Nobel laureates. It is printed in full below, with parenthetical exegesis by someone too dumb to ever get a Nobel, or even a MacArthur genius grant. The most profound danger to world peace in the coming years will stem not from the irrational acts of states or individuals but from the legitimate demands of the world’s dispossessed. (According to Nobel statement coordinator John C. Polanyi [Chemistry Prize 1986], the laureates’ pronouncement was written before September 11. Don’t rely on tips from Nobel laureates to win the Super Bowl office pool. And “irrational” is an interesting word choice. Aren’t Nobel Prize winners supposed to understand how rationalization works? Maybe they mean “bad.”) Of these poor and disenfranchised … (Why do political bien-pensants roll “dispossessed,” “poor,” and “disenfranchised” together, as if they have a natural correlation—like “ice,” “cold,” and “beer”? The Dalai Lama [Peace Prize 1989] is dispossessed.
