News

Barack Obama Calls Out Cancel Culture—“That’s Not Activism”

<p>Over the last few years we’ve all witnessed just how toxic and damaging cancel culture can be&comma; as social media has become a place for many to play judge&comma; jury and executioner over things that can sometimes be insignificant or irrelevant&period; In a response to how out of control it’s become&comma; our forever President<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;over-100k-sign-petition-to-rename-manhattan-block-that-houses-trump-tower-after-barack-obama-instead&sol;"> Barack Obama<&sol;a> recently called out cancel culture during a recent appearance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As reported by &commat;HuffPost&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;huffpost&period;com&sol;entry&sol;barack-obama-twitter-activism&lowbar;n&lowbar;5db9292ee4b0bb1ea3716bb7&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;hp&lowbar;fb&lowbar;pages&amp&semi;ncid&equals;fcbklnkushpmg00000063&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;facebook&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;main&lowbar;fb">while speaking<&sol;a> at the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago earlier this week&comma; Barack Obama didn’t hold back his feelings on cancel culture and Twitter outrage&comma; emphasizing that they are &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;not activism” and also pushed for Americans to abandon ideological purity tests when it comes to politics&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During the panel&comma; moderated by &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Grown-ish” star Yara Shahidi&comma; Obama explained that politics&comma; like the world in general&comma; is messy and no one is perfect&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This idea of purity&comma; and you’re never compromised&comma; and you’re always politically woke and all that stuff&period; You should get over that quickly&period; The world is messy&period; There are ambiguities&period; People who do really good stuff have flaws&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; his most interesting critique was aimed at the cancel culture epidemic that has spread like wildfire on social media&comma; specifically Twitter&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;There is this sense sometimes of &OpenCurlyQuote;the way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people&comma; and that’s enough&period;’ Like if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb&period; Then&comma; I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself because&comma; &OpenCurlyQuote;Man&comma; you see how woke I was&quest; I called you out&period;’ I’m gonna get on TV&period; Watch my show&period; Watch &OpenCurlyQuote;Grown-ish&period;’ You know&comma; that’s not activism&period; That’s not bringing about change&period; If all you’re doing is casting stones&comma; you’re probably not going to get that far&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As always&comma; Barack Obama spoke very eloquently about a popular cultural topic in a way that everyone can understand and appreciate&period; We definitely miss the days when he was in the White House&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Roommates&comma; what are your thoughts on this&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"54087" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;barack-obama-calls-out-cancel-culture-thats-not-activism&sol;" data-secure&equals;"0ff7a3bbcb"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;font-size&colon; 25px&semi;font-weight&colon; 600&semi;">What Do You Think Roomies&quest;<&sol;div> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions wpra-static-emojis size-medium" style&equals;"border-color&colon; &num;ffffff&semi;border-width&colon; 0px&semi;border-radius&colon; 50px&semi;border-style&colon; solid&semi;background&colon; &num;ffffff&semi;">&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"emoji-8 wpra-reaction wpra-pad-fix" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"8"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-10 wpra-reaction wpra-pad-fix" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"10"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-4 wpra-reaction" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"4"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-5 wpra-reaction" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"5"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-2 wpra-reaction" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"2"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-7 wpra-reaction" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"7"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-12 wpra-reaction" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"12"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div> <&sol;div> <div class&equals;"wpra-share-wrap wpra-share-buttons-bordered" style&equals;"">&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab; <&sol;div> <&excl;-- end of share buttons -->&Tab;&Tab;&Tab; <&sol;div> <&excl;-- end of reactions container --> <&sol;div> <&excl;-- end of reactions wrap -->&Tab;&Tab;

Danielle Jennings

x