Former President of the United States Barack Obama has recently expressed his views on "woke culture", and it might not be exactly what you expected.
During an interview about youth activism at the Obama Foundation summit on Tuesday, the 61-year-old opened up about his thoughts on "woke" and "call-out" culture, slamming both practices as something people need to "get over."
Obama told the host, Yara Shahidi, that no one can be perfect all the time.
"This idea of purity and you’re never compromised and you’re always politically 'woke' and all that stuff," Obama said. "You should get over that quickly."
He continued: "The world is messy; there are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws. People who you are fighting may love their kids, and share certain things with you."
The former president also delved into the responsibility of social media when it comes to movements like cancel culture. For those of you that might not be aware, the term "cancel culture" was coined to refer to people on the internet banding together to "cancel" a celebrity, public figure, or even just a normal person for an action or statement related to them.
In other words, it's a modern-day public shaming tactic that usually takes place on the internet.
When speaking on conversations he's had with his daughter Malia Obama, he told Shahidi that some young people seem to be getting more and more "judgemental."
"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."
He continued: "Like, 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, cause, 'Man, you see how woke I was, I called you out.'"
He then went on to criticize the idea, saying it is not a form of true activism.
"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."
Watch the interview below:
The video was re-shared on Twitter by numerous users, but an account called Whole Mars Catalogue got a special comment from a particular billionaire after they tagged him in the post.
After captioning the clip "My god. @BarackObama has gone full MAGA, just like @elonmusk!", the post was noticed by the SpaceX owner.
In a simple, yet effective comment, Elon Musk wrote: "Wise words from President Obama."
The 51-year-old's tweet has since received over 55,000 likes as well as over 2,000 retweets.
And it seems as though Musk wasn't the only surprising fan either.
Tomi Lahren, a conservative political speaker said that Obama's comments are "really nice to hear" adding that he is "standing up for our rights and our values of the First Amendment."
On the other side, Tulsi Gabbard, a Democratic presidential candidate tweeted clarifying Obama's message.
"In a nutshell, Obama is saying we all need a little more aloha spirit," she wrote. "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."
Andrew Yang, another notable Democratic presidential candidate echoed the same thing, saying Obama was "right on all counts."
As per The New York Times, since his departure from the White House, Obama has mostly stayed out of the limelight and has turned his focus to discussing the integrity of the political system and other similar themes.