Friday, December 20, 2019

Global Citizenship

Part of the challenge we have as humans is that when things get complicated and confusing we tend to want to block it out and look for simple answers.

So we are, often times, getting a leadership that reflects our own insecurities and problems.

We are electing somebody whose basic message is that all your problems are a result of that group over there that's not like us.

We are electing people who say there is no such thing as climate change so that you don't even have to worry about it.

We elect people who say "I am the tough guy and if you are worried about crime or terrorists, I'm just going to round everybody up," which leads to extra-judicial killings or torture or violates human rights.

That's not just the leader's fault.  It's not just a challenge of leadership, it's a challenge of global citizenship.

-- Former President Barack Obama, speaking in Singapore, 16 December 2019

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