Barack Obama chastised “judgmental” young people on social media who consider themselves “woke” and are so quick to cancel anyone they disagree with. “That’s not activism,” said the former U.S. president.
“People who do really good stuff have flaws,” said Obama, who issued an apparent warning that Democrats risk losing the 2020 presidential election to Republicans again.
Obama told young people on social media to get over themselves by reminding them that they are not perfect.
“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,” he said during his 3rd annual Obama Foundation summit in Chicago.
“The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws,” he said. Obama said people who “cancel” others on social media only do so to make themselves feel important.
“One danger I see among young people, particularly on college campuses… There is this sense sometimes of, the way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people.
“Like if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb or then, I can sit back and feel good about myself: ‘Cause, man, you see how woke I was? I called you out.’ You know that’s not activism, that’s not bringing about change. If all you’re doing is casting stones, you’re probably not going to get that far. [Casting stones] is easy to do.”
