Against a backdrop of the disastrous Islamist terrorist takeover of key cities in Iraq, President Obama told a Tumblr user gathering to quit the cynicism — the world is far less violent today than at any other point in history.
His words, as reported by Breitbart: “You guys are fed a lot of cynicism every single day about how nothing works and big institutions stink and government is broken. And so you channel a lot of your passion and energy into various private endeavors. But this country has always been built both through an individual initiative, but also a sense of some common purpose.”
He went on, hitting at his core point.
“If there’s one message I want to deliver to young people like a Tumblr audience is — don’t get cynical,” he said, Breitbart reported. “Guard against cynicism. I mean, the truth of the matter is that for all the challenges we face, all the problems that we have, if you had to be — if you had to choose any moment to be born in human history, not knowing what your position was going to be, who you were going to be, you’d choose this time. The world is less violent than it has ever been.”
Mr. Obama also said the world is “healthier than it has ever been … more tolerant than it has ever been. It is better fed than it’s ever been. It is more educated than it’s ever been.”
His remarks came as the terror group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has mounted a takeover of key cities in Iraq — the very same that U.S. soldiers fought to secure in the Iraq conflict. ISIS aims to instill Sharia law across Iraq and Syria, and has so far seized Mosul and set Baghdad in its sights.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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