As media do a victory lap over Friday's Nobel Peace Prize announcement, it seems a metaphysical certitude that few Americans are aware of the other 180 nominees for the award besides the Global Warmingist-in-Chief Al Gore.
For instance, meet Irena Sendler, a 97-year-old Polish woman who saved 2,500 Jewish children from certain death in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II.
Hadn't heard of her? Well, don't feel bad, for since the Nobel Committee announced the nominees in February, there have only been 107 reports about Mrs. Sendler being one of them. By contrast, Al Gore and "Nobel" have been mentioned in 2,912.
To put an even finer point on the astounding difference in media coverage, since the nominees were announced, Mrs. Sendler has been referred to in only six newscasts on television and radio, one by conservative Glenn Beck. Gore's Nobel nomination was discussed in 249!
With that in mind, here is Sendler's story - as presented by the Irena Sendler Project, the fabulous brainchild of some students in rural Kansas - which media have deplorably chosen to boycott in favor of championing a wealthy American liberal who made a movie containing egregious scientific falsehoods (h/t NBer mattm):
Irena Sendler, born in 1910, was raised by her Catholic parents to respect and love people regardless of their ethnicity or social status. Her father, a physician, died from typhus that he contracted during an epidemic in 1917. He was the only doctor in his town near Warsaw who would treat the poor, mostly Jewish victims of this tragic disease. As he was dying, he told 7-year-old Irena, "If you see someone drowning you must try to rescue them, even if you cannot swim." In 1939 the Nazis swept through Poland and imprisoned the Jews in ghettos where they were first starved to death and then systematically murdered in killing camps. Irena, by than a social worker in Warsaw, saw the Jewish people drowning and resolved to do what she could to rescue as many as possible, especially the children. Working with a network of other social workers and brave Poles, mostly women, she smuggled 2,500 children out of the Warsaw ghetto and hid them safely until the end of the war. Sendler took great risks - obtaining forged papers for the children, disguising herself as an infection control nurse, diverting German occupation funds for the support of children in hiding. She entered the Warsaw ghetto, sometimes two and three times a day, and talked Jewish parents into giving up their children. Sendler drugged the babies with sedatives and smuggled them past Nazi guards in gunny sacks, boxes and coffins. She helped the older ones escape through the sewers, through secret openings in the wall, through the courthouse, through churches, any clever way she and her network could evade the Nazis. Once outside the ghetto walls, Sendler gave the children false names and documents and placed them in convents, orphanages and with Polish families. In 1942 the Polish underground organization ZEGOTA recruited her to lead their Children's Division, providing her with money and support. Her hope was that after the war she could reunite the children with surviving relatives, or at least return their Jewish identities. To that end she kept thin tissue paper lists of each child's Jewish name, their Polish name and address. She hid the precious lists in glass jars buried under an apple tree in the back yard of one of her co-conspirators. In 1943 Irena Sendler was arrested, tortured and sentenced to death by firing squad. She never divulged the location of the lists or her Polish underground contacts. At the last moment she was saved by ZEGOTA which bribed a guard to secure her freedom. She still bears the scars and disability of her torture.
God bless you, Irena. For all I know, you saved one of my relatives.
As a post script, I wanted to point out some of the major media outlets in our nation that boycotted her nomination. A search of LexisNexis identified the following: The New York Times; USA Today; The Los Angeles Times; The Chicago Tribune; The San Francisco Chronicle; The Miami Herald; CNN (Beck's report was on CNN Headline News); MSNBC; CBS; Fox News (only Prime Time broadcasts and Fox News Sunday are transcribed).
Obviously, there are many more that ignored Sendler. In fact, as I analyze this further, most of the 107 reports were from foreign media sources, not American ones.
Why might that be?
Please also see Rich Noyes's report concerning media coverage of Gore's coronation.
*****Update: Please see Terry Trippany's great March article about Irena for more information.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
hey man are you trying to
October 15, 2007 - 13:01 ET by TruthMongerhey man are you trying to change the subject from Ann Coulter and her truly bigoted anti-semitism?!?!? nice try pal
A service of the new NB respect police
Too much information?
October 15, 2007 - 13:04 ET byI see your point Noel, but in a media saturated culture that has to pick and choose what is covered, we could come up with hundreds of stories about, "why wasn't this covered?" And all these examples of "why wasn't this covered?" run the gamut along the political spectrum. I.E. you could uncover numerous examples proclaiming the media is "tilted" one way or the other.
I defy you
October 15, 2007 - 13:18 ET by mattmYou say "you could uncover numerous examples proclaiming the media is "tilted" one way or the other." Let's see you try it.
It can't be done. The fact is that whether the angle is how a story is covered, or what is covered vs. what is not covered, the result is the same: The media are "tilted" overwhelming to the Left.
Bias is not merely about content. It is also about frequency, prominence, perspective, balance, priority, etc. etc....
true - I mean what has
October 15, 2007 - 13:18 ET by TruthMongertrue - I mean what has this old lady done to reduce the standing armies of the world, anyway - like Gore has?!?!?
That's the whole point of the Nobel Peace Prize. I mean who dramatically reduced the size of the US Mil recently...what was his name...Rum something or other...
And who's been fighting against nuke proliferation - Alfred Nobel would have really like that - Iran is feeling the heat and North Korea and Libya recently caved in to...George W somebody...
Who ended the cold war again? They could have done a duo award with Gorbachev and that Ronald whats-his-name..
A service of the new NB respect police
That was one of the most
October 15, 2007 - 15:51 ET by bassndudeThat was one of the most feeble excuses that has ever graced the pages here at NB.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Ms. Sendler would have
October 15, 2007 - 13:16 ET by MidAmericaMs. Sendler would have gotten more notice if she had said Bush's administration was just like the Nazi's.
Is it possible she got less
October 15, 2007 - 13:18 ET by TheGingermanIs it possible she got less coverage because she's not an American and Al Gore is?
Not discounting her amazing feats of heroism, but trying to think reasonably.
yes the USA wins everything
October 15, 2007 - 13:26 ET by TruthMongeryes the USA wins everything - even when we probably don't deserve it
USA! USA!
Gore is helping to regain our world stature!
A service of the new NB respect police
Noel. Something you
October 15, 2007 - 13:20 ET by danboNoel. Something you missed.
After she escaped, she took a new identity. And returned to the ghetto to save more children.
In the post-war period she again immersed herself in the area of Social Welfare, working in the Ministry of Health. Having been in the Polish Underground was not looked upon with favor by Poland's communist masters. Though she was never arrested by the Communist authorities, she was threatened that her children was not be allowed to have access to higher education.
I'm in awe of this woman's story.
Source
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
Why might that be?
October 15, 2007 - 13:21 ET by rbchaffeI'm sure the Nobel award committee members got a kickback. Irena probably isn't as rich as Gore.
It's hard to make a lot of
October 15, 2007 - 13:26 ET by danboIt's hard to make a lot of money from that wheelchair in that nursing home.
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
nobel
October 15, 2007 - 13:58 ET by iveseenitallThe Nobel Peace Prize is what Algore is --a joke. Al is the emperor with no clothes.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
Well, yeah. The Gore
October 15, 2007 - 13:45 ET by Chris NormanWell, yeah. The Gore Juggernaut crushes all in it's path.
Right, and now that he has
October 15, 2007 - 15:38 ET by motherbeltRight, and now that he has won the Nobel Peace Prize, of course he should be President. Can't you just picture the democrats asking Mrs. Clinton to "do the right thing"?????
The presidency of the US is
October 15, 2007 - 16:50 ET by Chris NormanThe presidency of the US is too small a job for His Wideness. He should be Ruler of the Universe!
It was found that the
October 15, 2007 - 13:51 ET by danboIt was found that the autobiography of Rigoberta Menchu (the winner of the 1992 Peace Prize) was a series of lies.
"The Nobel committee, having found Rigoberta a suitably obscure and politically correct candidate for its peace prize in 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s landing in North America, said that it will not rescind the prize even though her only credential for winning was her life story, as narrated in her autobiography. "
Source
Somehow the Nobel prizes are starting to look dirty and slimy.
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
Can we bestow an
October 15, 2007 - 13:53 ET by Hero SquadCan we bestow an honorary Newsbusters Peace Prize upon Irena Sandler?
It's not just a travesty that she didn't win this year, but that it's 2007 and she still hasn't won. It's been more than 60 years since her heroic wartime efforts, and any one of those years she could've been selected as a recipient of this honor and wasn't.
Instead of actually saving lives, she should've made a movie about how others could save lives. Then maybe she would've won a Peace Prize.
*****
"I heart famous people."
Y`all are forgetting ... In
October 15, 2007 - 14:02 ET by drillanwrY`all are forgetting ... In saving all those children's lives this made it possible for them to reproduce a couple generations by now ...
Hence, Irena's contribution to this planet's carbon footprint has been <gasp!> unforgivable!
I'm sorry, but this is
October 15, 2007 - 14:04 ET by cleverpigI'm sorry, but this is silly. This woman is obviously a saint, and is entirely non-controversial. Therefore, she will be discussed less in the media. Hell, she's been discussed less on Newsbusters than Gore has. Is that because you guys think Gore is a better person than her? No.
As for news outlets "boycotting" her story, show me evidence of an organized effort to prevent coverage. That's what a "boycott" is. There were 180 nominees, should they all have had a day of front page coverage? Maybe, but that didn't happen either in the mainstream media or on right-wing talk radio. It's not evidence of bias, it's just not what sells newspaper or makes people tune their dial. There are a million untold stories of heroism in this world, and that's sad, but I'm afraid the right is just as guilty of ignoring those stories as the left.
She is representative of
October 15, 2007 - 14:10 ET by Hero SquadShe is representative of what the Peace Prize should be about. Al Gore should never have been nominated. (Neither should Rush, but his nomination was tongue-and-cheek and a lampoon of how absurd Al's nomination was.)
If there was a prize for Environmental Public Relations, then sure, Al would be the front-runner.
Irene is merely an exemplification as but one of 178 nominees more deserving of this award than Gore.
*****
"I heart famous people."
OK, cleverpig, there were
October 15, 2007 - 15:45 ET by motherbeltOK, cleverpig, there were 180 nominees. And how many of them did you actually hear anything about?
News outlets choose what they cover, and they chose to cover Gore, day in and day out. Maybe they didn't boycott coverage of the other nominees, but you would think, at some point, with all the coverage of Gore, some news outlet would take the opportunity to say: with the spotlight on the Peace Prize front and center, since a former VP has been nominated, let's take a look at some of the other nominees.
But nope, didn't happen. Just Al Gore, Prophet, Savior of the Earth, Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
I completely agree! I
October 15, 2007 - 16:40 ET by cleverpigI completely agree!
I just don't think it's because he is liberal. I think it was because he's controversial, American, already famous, has a movie that won an Oscar, etc. etc. Are those good reasons? No! But this is nothing new.
Every time the Nobel Prize is awarded there are approximately 179 incredibly deserving people who don't get it. Do you know any of their names? You are talking about this particular nominee only to tug on people's heartstrings and try to make them feel guilty about Gore's selection. But if one of the other 178 nominees who no one has heard of had won instead of Gore, I seriously doubt that Mr. Sheppard would care that this amazing woman wasn't selected.
"Every time the Nobel Prize
October 15, 2007 - 17:52 ET by stratman"Every time the Nobel Prize is awarded there are approximately 179 incredibly deserving people who don't get it. Do you know any of their names?"
From Nobelprize.org:
"You are talking about this particular nominee only to tug on people's heartstrings and try to make them feel guilty about Gore's selection."
Maybe, but Ms. Sendler's story displays selfless courage and a lifelong commitment to bettering mankind minus "consensus" junk science, cowardice to discuss, authority or clarity of facts, vanity or benefit of monetary self-enrichment as integral as the cause itself.
"But if one of the other 178 nominees who no one has heard of had won instead of Gore, I seriously doubt that Mr. Sheppard would care that this amazing woman wasn't selected."
While I can not speak for Noel, I will say I would not give it further consideration if an appropriate alternate recepient were chosen who not only had the bona fides but also was not steeped in such controversy and falsehoods as Gore. That is the crux of the issue for me, and not that he is a Liberal, Democrat, serial liar/embelisher (outside of AGW), in covenant with Armand Hammer or even an egregious energy waster.
Killing them with kindness isn't working. Time to get scrappy with the Donkeys.
So, how did we find out
October 15, 2007 - 18:08 ET by cleverpigSo, how did we find out that Irena was up for the prize?
As I've said before, I think Gore is a surprising choice. However, you can't argue that he isn't making a huge difference in the world, on a vast scale. Some people think he is making a bad difference, I agree with the Nobel committee that he is doing good. Controversy comes with the territory when you are trying to change the way the world operates on such a fundamental level.
I would assume that each
October 15, 2007 - 21:00 ET by stratmanI would assume that each individual nominee is told of their nomination either by those that nominate them or by the committee once their nomination has been accepted for consideration.
How did we find out that Al Gore was a nominee? Maybe this was how: http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1623952.ece.
"As I've said before, I think Gore is a surprising choice."
Without knowing all the nominees, Rush Limbaugh is the most surprising nominee in my opinion, though not because I think Gore is such a good choice. Given the capricious, fad-conscientious and biased political advocation of the committee I am not surprised that Gore was nominated or won, despite the lack of merit I believe he deserves concerning this award.
Do you think he deserves to join the ranks of Yasser Arafat, Rigoberta Menchu Tum and Le Duc Tho?
Seems that Jean-Paul Sartre was ahead of his time in refusing to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe he reasoned it had already "jumped the shark". It was awarded to Martin Luther King that year (1964), a man that Gore will never approach when it comes to "walking the walk" or "talking the talk".
Killing them with kindness isn't working. Time to get scrappy with the Donkeys.
"Do you think he deserves
October 15, 2007 - 21:30 ET by MikeB"Do you think he deserves to join the ranks of Yasser Arafat, Rigberta Menchu Tum and Le Duc Tho?" Gore is a liar and a fraud, so yes, I think he deserves to join the ranks of the above mentioned. None of them deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, and if the Nobel committee had been apolitical, none of them would have ever won the prize.
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
Irene
October 15, 2007 - 14:07 ET by Mike From CanmoreCome on Noel. She saved a mere 2500 people. Al is saving billions, allegedly. How the 'ell are they going to sell advertising with just that?!?!? Wait a second, Al promotes the continued suppression of the third world and the millions of lives lost because they don't have basic electricity?!?
The Nobel prize , along with MSM are jokes. MSM is a vast history of like hiring like until you have a bastion of liberals who actually believe the crap they are producing. Al's made over $100 million for promoting junk. She's probably only received the satisfication of knowing she's done the right thing. Worth more than than Al's $100 mill, for sure.
Thanks for the article. Really enjoyed reading it.
*Argue for your limitations and sure enough you will achieve them.
A new Peace Prize is needed.
October 15, 2007 - 15:20 ET by Army BratThe Nobel Prize is a joke...used for political purposes. It has no basis in reality anymore.
Happy Trails...
While it does not have the
October 15, 2007 - 18:04 ET by MikeBWhile it does not have the prestige of the Nobel prize, President Bush could award her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The medal is awarded to those "who have made outstanding contributions to ... world peace." I think that this lady is more than qualified for this medal.
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
Greg Gutfeld did a
October 15, 2007 - 15:35 ET by kevcadGreg Gutfeld did a wonderful job explaining her triumph on Red Eye. Light years more deserving of a "peace" prize.
Start each day with a smile, then get it over with. - W.C. Fields
From
October 15, 2007 - 16:21 ET by stratmanFrom Nobelprize.org:
Noel:
Thank you for detailing one of the more qualified individuals on the planet deserving of a "Peace Prize" than Al Gore. Irena Sendler walked the walk, putting her life on the line, all for no tangible personal gain other than her honor, duty and self respect.
How repulsive it is to me to mention the bloated and bloviating Gore in the same post as this living paragon of human virtue, Ms. Sendler.
Mr. Gore not only does not walk the walk, utilizing more energy than most any family on the planet for his personal comfort as well as jetting unnecessarily around the globe when perfectly viable videoconferencing is available, but he also gains monetarily now and potentially astronomically in the future if his "vision" materializes. That his propagandistic movie has now been judged to contain 9 scientific falsehoods, some which go to the very core of his AGW premise, and that the issue of AGW is far from settled, no matter what Gore and his ilk would have us believe about "consensus" science, should have prompted any reasonable and intelligent awards committee to select a different winner for the Nobel. It is not like Gore could not be nominated and win in the future.
So many other and worthier candidates could have been selected, people with undeniably proven records of advancing peace in our world. It appears that the Nobel Peace Prize has become more of a fashion statement, doling out prizes to some individuals whose track records are tenuous at best and not having withstood the test of time. Yassar Arafat, Rigoberta Menchu Tum and Le Duc Tho come to mind in that category.
Al Gore now joins the rank of the famous and the infamous. Where he will eventual reside amoungst those two groups is yet to be known given the still unanswered questions and recent blemishes on his very reason for winning the Nobel.
While advocacy has always been part and parcel of the Nobel Peace Prize, when did appropriate vetting stop being an essential element in the decision process?
Killing them with kindness isn't working. Time to get scrappy with the Donkeys.
Aw c'mon, Noel, <sarc> how
October 15, 2007 - 16:42 ET by MikeBAw c'mon, Noel, <sarc> how could Irena Sendler have done what it is said she did. Why everybody knows that the holocaust is a hoax, unlike anthropogenic global warming, piltdown man, electromagnetic fields causing cancer, the TANG documents done in Microsoft Word before Word was invented, and the Bush administration blowing up the world trade center. Why all those Russian and Allied troops who said they liberated the non-existant concentration camps lied. Every one of them lied. And all those photographs are faked. All the documents from the Nazi archives are no such thing, they are plants by the former KGB and the CIA. Fortunately, the Nobel committee did the right thing by Algore, unlike the Supreme Court.</sarc>
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
what? torture? GITMO?
October 15, 2007 - 19:58 ET by UndercoverConservativedid they put underwear over the poor woman's head, make her take embarassing pictures, and turn down her AC, all the while inundating her with food attempting to fatten her up while providing legal services paid for by the citizens of the nation she was trying to blow up?
No? but, I thought that was what torture really was! You mean they actually caused real physical pain and suffering?
Maybe it was an "extraordianry rendition"! yeah, that's the ticket!
*barf* First the UN gets bought out in the Oil For Food scam to keep the world from cleaning up anti Western forces in the Middle East. Now the Nobels are bought out to promote economic warfare and to undermine confidence in Western cultures.
stratman
October 15, 2007 - 23:05 ET by SeptemberHow repulsive it is to me to mention the bloated and bloviating Gore in the same post as this living paragon of human virtue, Ms. Sendler.
I was going to say the same thing essentially but you said it better. If some libs don't see this then they never will.
piggy
October 15, 2007 - 23:11 ET by SeptemberControversy comes with the territory when you are trying to change the way the world operates on such a fundamental level.
Amen to more controversy where AGW is concerned. As long as there is controversy I may yet convert even more friends and family to the skeptics side.
I have a fundamental right to protect my level of operation in the world.
Keep chipping away on your
October 16, 2007 - 02:20 ET by stratmanKeep chipping away on your friends and family. Every newly illuminated individual is one less zombie for Team Gore/UN.
Nations outside of the US and Canada are beginning to question the AGW house of cards. More voices are speaking up and being heard, demanding a debate on the issues and better science before commiting vast sums of wealth, disrupting various economic policies and the potentially damning the welfare and future of people around the globe.
Killing them with kindness isn't working. Time to get scrappy with the Donkeys.
this story alone demonstrates ...
October 15, 2007 - 23:21 ET by pmohbuckthe travesty of gore winning the nobel "peace" prize ... but then again, the nobel committe awarded anti-semite yassir arafat the award. considering these circumstances, why does anyone really care who wins the nobel peace prize anymore ... it's obviously insignificant.
honestly, if gore had any decency, he would have deferred the award to ms. sendler (someone who risked more than gore could even dream of)... who am i kidding ... gore's ego is so big, he would probably shove ms. sendler to get ahead of her in a grocery store checkout lane
now we can wait for gore to campaign for further accolades ...
... presidential medal of freedom ... the medal of honor ... TIME man of the year ... parade all-american ... major league all-star ... pro bowl invitation ... baseball hall of fame ...world's strongest man ... playmate of the year
Didn't Algore invent
October 15, 2007 - 23:35 ET by MikeBDidn't Algore invent baseball? Or, was he just responsible for "developing" baseball?
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
You forgot Tiger Beat
October 16, 2007 - 02:10 ET by stratmanYou forgot Tiger Beat Magazine Teen Heartthrob of the Year.
The line in Vegas has Gore winning bigger than David Cassidy and Leif Garrett combined.
As Colonel Kurtz said in Apocalypse Now: The horror... the horror.
Saving Jews vs alarming people
October 16, 2007 - 08:31 ET by Blogger Guy00001The alarmist won the prize. The woman who saved Jews from death didn't. That about sums up the ideology of the left, including the Nobel committee. Leftist ideology must be promoted at all costs. Honoring a woman who saved Jews doesn't count in their world-view.
It takes courage
October 16, 2007 - 09:00 ET by sarcasmoTo go against the crowd.
JMR
Rally online with fans of Dr. Ron Paul.
stratman
October 16, 2007 - 10:09 ET by SeptemberKeep chipping away on your friends and family. Every newly illuminated individual is one less zombie for Team Gore/UN.
What's interesting to me is that some folks don't realize they are zombies. They've been fed so long from one source (whose fault that is is for another discussion) that when something contradictory to the AGW alarmist dogma finally starts to sink in, they seemed surprised they didn't see what was going on in front of their eyes for so long.