While the world scratches its heads, and the Obama administration tries to find a way to diffuse the bomb the Nobel Committee has thorbjorned at them, and I and many other Norwegians will try to pretend that we’re Swedes for the next couple of months, some Norwegian pundits are cautiously positive, praising the choice as risky and bold.

Okay. Yes, this is a “bold” choice. And it will be interesting to see what effect it might have.

It would also be bold and interesting if Thorbjørn Jagland were to deliver the prize while wearing a pointy hat that said “Hogwarts Sorting Hat” on it. What would happen? Let’s find out!

But it would be stupid. And people would laugh and/or hide their faces in embarassment. And if someone were to say that it isn’t stupid, that it’s actually risky and bold, we would look at them and realize that there’s a disconnect between them and the world most people live in.

So we might want to do something about that disconnect. Or .. we could just pretend this never happened. I’m leaning towards the second alternative.

Btw, my favorite reaction to the Obama peace prize came from a comment on John Scalzi’s blog:

“All you Hugo aspirants better hope he doesn’t have something cooking for NaNoWriMo.”