For all eight years of his presidency, Barack Obama was the epitome of class and grace, ever speaking to how to bring opposing sides to common ground, whether during a beer summit or in offering a hand to recalcitrant Republicans.
Now, the nation’s forever president is calling out “cancel culture,” telling an audience at the annual Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago that shutting down a person with an opposing view or just being overly critical is not a mark of true activism.
“This idea of purity, and you’re never compromised, and you’re always politically woke and all that stuff. You should get over that quickly,” Obama said, the Daily Beast reports. “The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.”
Obama took on the social media culture of so-called hashtag activism, advising that folks, especially young people, not mistake being overly judgmental with being an activist.
“If I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself. Did you see how woke I was, I called you out,” Obama continued during Tuesday’s speech, according to Rolling Stone. “Then I’m going to get on my TV and watch my show … That’s not activism.
“If all you’re doing is casting stones, you’re probably not going to get that far,” opined Obama.
Wise and sober words, perhaps especially needed in an era in which the current occupant of the Oval Office hardly goes out of his way to find common ground with those with whom he disagrees.