Ignoble Prize 2

OK, I was wrong when I predicted that the Swedish Academy was going to award the Nobel prize for literature to a particularly disgusting recipient this year.

Harold Pinter is not a purveyor of "whining, unenjoyable, violent pornography" like last year's winner. He has enjoyed a popular and impactful career, and is a safe pick for a literary prize.

Of course, he could have received the prize in 1970 or 1980 or 1990, since his most influencial work was largely finished by then. But he didn't. Instead, he won in 2005.

Why now? Perhaps so he could be alive to receive the award. He's 75, after all. But more likely, because of stuff like this, from The American Spectator:

Harold Pinter, the playwright much beloved by American audiences who know nothing of his biases, fulminated in 2002 (and later reissued his remarks as a pamphlet) against "the nightmare of American hysteria, ignorance, arrogance, stupidity and belligerence: the most powerful nation the world has ever known effectively waging war against the rest of the world."

What a deal! A safe choice after a rain of criticism over last year's choice, and the knowledge that the award will bring with it denunciations of America's sacrificial efforts to save the world, including Europe, from Islamfascism.