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Obama on "wokeness"...

3K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  Chuck Smith 
#1 ·
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/us/p ... lture.html

Obama on Call-Out Culture: 'That's Not Activism'

By Emily S. Rueb and Derrick Bryson Taylor

Former President Barack Obama made a rare foray into the cultural conversation this week, objecting to the prevalence of "call-out culture" and "wokeness" during an interview about youth activism at the Obama Foundation summit on Tuesday.

For more than an hour, Mr. Obama sat onstage with the actress Yara Shahidi and several other young leaders from around the world. The conversation touched on "leadership, grass roots change and the power places have to shape our journeys," the Obama Foundation said, but it was his remarks about young activists that have ricocheted around the internet, mostly receiving praise from a cohort of bipartisan and intergenerational supporters.

"This idea of purity and you're never compromised and you're always politically 'woke' and all that stuff," Mr. Obama said. "You should get over that quickly."

"The world is messy; there are ambiguities," he continued. "People who do really good stuff have flaws. People who you are fighting may love their kids, and share certain things with you."

Mr. Obama spoke repeatedly of the role of social media in activism specifically, including the idea of what's become known as "cancel culture," which is much remarked upon, but still nebulously defined. It tends to refer to behavior that mostly plays out on the internet when someone has said or done something to which others object. That person is then condemned in a flurry of social media posts. Such people are often referred to as "canceled," a way of saying that many others (and perhaps the places at which they work) are fed up with them and will have no more to do with them.

Mr. Obama talked about conversations he's had with his daughter Malia, who is a student at Harvard with Ms. Shahidi.

"I do get a sense sometimes now among certain young people, and this is accelerated by social media, there is this sense sometimes of: 'The way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people,'" he said, "and that's enough."

"Like, if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn't do something right or used the wrong verb," he said, "then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself, cause, 'Man, you see how woke I was, I called you out.'"

Then he pretended to sit back and press the remote to turn on a television.

"That's not activism. That's not bringing about change," he said. "If all you're doing is casting stones, you're probably not going to get that far. That's easy to do."

The audience erupted in applause, which was echoed by conservative pundits like Ann Coulter.

"Good for Obama," Ms. Coulter tweeted on Wednesday night, adding a parenthetical: "Not sarcastic!"

Tomi Lahren, a conservative political commentator, said on "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday that Mr. Obama's comments made him look like "the voice of reason" and that "that's when you know the Democratic Party has gotten this bad."

"What's really nice to hear is Barack Obama standing up for our rights and our values of the First Amendment," Ms. Lahren said. "Just remember that we used to think Barack Obama was bad."

Tulsi Gabbard, a Democratic presidential candidate and a congresswoman from Mr. Obama's home state of Hawaii, seized on his words as a campaign message for her supporters.

"In a nutshell, Obama is saying we all need a little more aloha spirit," she tweeted. "Being respectful & caring for one another. Not being so quick to judge. Not seeing everything as black/white. I hope you'll join me in bringing the spirit of aloha to the White House."

Another Democratic presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, also championed the message on Twitter.

"He is right on all counts," Mr. Yang said.

Others called out the 44th president for being "paternalistic."

Michael Arceneaux, the author of "I Can't Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyoncé," said he didn't "need lessons about 'being woke' and 'cancel culture'" in an op-ed for The Independent.

"I am never quite sure if Obama really thinks this naïvely or if he's trying to convince certain sects of the population - notably young black folks, whom he just loves to lecture - that it's better to coddle white people about their prejudices with the hopes of growth rather than speak our minds as we see fit," he said.

Since leaving office in January 2017, the former president has mostly remained out of the public fray. Most of his appearances have focused on discussing the integrity of the political system and similar themes.

Following tradition, Mr. Obama initially refrained from publicly criticizing his successor. But during the run-up to the 2018 midterms, he called President Donald J. Trump a threat to American values while speaking to students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

He has occasionally returned to the campaign trail to rally black voters and, more recently, has been working behind the scenes to advise Democratic presidential hopefuls. But he has yet to make an endorsement.
Rarely do I aggree with the NY Times.... and even Obama. :poke: But this is very accurate and I am glad he has said something. He is 100% correct on all accounts with this whole "woke" and "cancel" type stuff. People should learn to agree to disagree and be civil. You don't need to ruin peoples lives because they didn't use the correct terms or made an offensive joke from 20 years ago. People change over time... even if you don't agree with them. :thumb:
 
#3 ·
:thumb: :thumb:

Trump is changing his permanent address out of New York City. Hasn't decided where yet.

New York mayor says....."Good riddance. He didn't pay any taxes anyway."

Could things like this be why the Clown Prince doesn't want his taxes released??? What a joke. :puke: :puke:
 
#4 ·
Appeals Court has told the Clown Prince he has to turn over his tax returns. His lawyers have said they will appeal to Supreme Court.

What does the Clown Prince have to hide??? :poke: :poke:
 
#5 ·
I think the only thing he doesn't want people to know is....

how rich he says he is compared to how rich he really is. Remember he is an ego maniac.

But my take on all of this.... WHO CARES. Economy is up, jobs is up, taxes are down (as of now), got us out of some BS trade deals and has some good trade deals ready to be signed and stamped (if Pelosi would bring to a vote), Trying to help out farmers (see previous about trade deals), he is trying things at the border, he would do something about immigration if the rest of the elected officials would negotiate, etc.

So far in my opinion he is doing good for the country.

His bad traits is that he cant shut up on twitter and is an ego is making him do it. Which is why most people don't like him.

The stuff he is doing for the country nobody can argue about.... the lack of things he isn't focusing on ie: deficit, healthcare etc. You can argue about that stuff....but nobody is. They attack his personality. People want a side show and so he gives it to them via twitter.

What is funny is this whole thread was about how Obama is calling out the Left leaning "cancel culture" and its BS.... then it turns into attacking trump.... by people who lean left. So are they trying to "cancel" trump because of this brash personality??? Not on substance??? :poke:
 
#6 ·
Chuck I too found myself agreeing with what Obama was saying. The republicans compromise many times, but the liberals do not. If you notice the responses on here it wasn't ok how do we work with Trump, it was continued bashing and name calling.

His bad traits is that he cant shut up on twitter and is an ego is making him do it. Which is why most people don't like him.
I have a little different take on that. If not for twitter would we hear it on the news? Not a chance. The only way good news gets out or even the other side of an opinion is through Trumps twitter. If he does something good would you hear about it on CNN? Not a chance. The left don't hate him because of his personality they hate him because they can't shut him up. They have convinced a few conservatives that Trump should shut up. They have not convinced me.

What is funny is this whole thread was about how Obama is calling out the Left leaning "cancel culture" and its BS.... then it turns into attacking trump.... by people who lean left. So are they trying to "cancel" trump because of this brash personality??? Not on substance??? :poke:
Exactly. Hypocrisy runs deep on the left side of the stream. For example when we talk about civility, have you ever watched FOX when they have a couple of conservatives and a couple of liberals? Have you noticed the poor manners the liberals have always interrupting and talking over people? It's not just sometimes it's more often than not they exhibit this type of poor manners and disrespect for others. I know I will sometimes call someone a name, but it's descriptive of them. For example for a long time I called Obama a socialist and i believe he is that or a communist. However liberals call Trump childish names then chastise us for calling names. As I said hypocrisy runs deep on the left.
 
#7 ·
I do wish Trump would stay clear of the "twit" network... Letting your intentions be known is one thing giving fuel to the enemy is another. He had the potential to do great things for this country but has gotten himself into so many pizzing matches he has lost focus. I had hoped he would get this country back on track fiscally but that's not gonna happen either. if he would shut up he could possibly turn things around ….. but we all know that's not going to happen.
 
#8 ·
When Trump tweets or opens his mouth the left reciprocates. I like that. It's lifting the veil to reveal hideous, warped, and twisted swamp creatures. Some of them are republican. It reveals who is for the citizenry and who is against. Sadly most of them are not acting like elected officials and have our best interests in mind and it is crystal clear who they are. In the past they were able to hide. Not now. They can't help but reveal themselves:)
 
#9 ·
KEN W said:
Appeals Court has told the Clown Prince he has to turn over his tax returns. His lawyers have said they will appeal to Supreme Court.

What does the Clown Prince have to hide??? :poke: :poke:
When Obama produces his college transcripts, student aid records and passport then I'll worry about why President Trump doesn't produce his tax returns. :poke: :poke:
 
#10 ·
I sometimes suspect Frank Marshal Davis is Obama's real father and that's why the big hangup on the birth certificate. They even look alike. If you have Netflix type in Dreams from my real father.

It sounds far fetched, but the movie has some convincing arguments. Evidently this guy took nude pics of Obama's mother, which is shown in the movie, and he was Obama's mentor for many years. He was an activist and an avowed communist.
 
#11 ·
How do you like it now that many far leftists are turning against Obama....

He told the dem party about going too "radical" on policy. :poke:

It is showing you why they have no good canidates right now. They are all too "extreme". Hence the impeachment BS... :beer:
 
#12 ·
I think Obama is as radical, or more so than any of the current candidates, but he is smart enough to know the American people are not receptive ------ yet. Essentially he tells the candidates lie and conceal your real self, at least for now.
 
#13 ·
Here is it again.... The tolerant left and "woke" culture.

Sondland has stated that his family is getting threats and his business's are getting protested and boycott.... you know who called for all of this.... A Dem from Oregon. An elected official :bop:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sondla ... nt-inquiry

Let alone what happened last night at Berkly… but that is normal there. A people were stopped from entering a building where Ann Coulter was speaking at. One person had her ticket stolen after someone stated they were there to help them and worked for the event.
 
#14 ·
Plainsman said:
I think Obama is as radical, or more so than any of the current candidates, but he is smart enough to know the American people are not receptive ------ yet. Essentially he tells the candidates lie and conceal your real self, at least for now.[

"lie and conceal your real self" Great description of the Clown Prince Trump. Couldn't say it any better. If there is a Pinocchio in the world it is Trump. :sniper: :bop: :bop:
 
#15 ·
Another Example of WOKE....

Turley who testified this week is getting threats at his work, his family getting threats, etc.

When he basically told people that right now there isn't enough to impeach trump on. That they should take it slow and gather more evidence. That they should let the courts decide if he and the others subpoenaed should testify (once the court says yes they need to comply... it is OBSTRUCTION if they don't)… etc. Is getting threats.

Tolerant liberals at play just because they don't agree with what he said. Has any of the others publicly come out and stated they are getting threats???? Just curious is all?
 
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