Obama says drift towards extremism 'not inevitable'

Obama says drift towards extremism 'not inevitable'

Barack Obama warned that online platforms were stoking anger and fear in people

Barack Obama told an audience in Glasgow that hope is worth fighting for, despite the major challenges confronting the modern world.

The 44th president of the United States said online platforms have, in recent years, shifted toward content that fuels anger and fear, but he believes a move toward extremism is "not inevitable".

His remarks came during a conversation with British journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera at the OVO Hydro, where he spoke to a crowd of 12,150 people as part of three speaking dates in the UK.

He looked back on his years in the White House and considered the political and social difficulties facing the US and the wider world.

Obama said that during his 2008 presidential campaign, when social media and technology were gaining momentum, he had viewed them as a beacon of hope.

But he said the same positive forces and tools that could rally people around democracy or human rights could also be exploited by hate groups.

He said they "connected people for good, but also for ill".

"It turns out that the reptilian side of our brain really gets attracted to anger, fear, resentment and the sense that someone is out to get you," he said.

"So a lot of social media and a lot of our information is informed around that."

But the former president, who has already spoken in Belfast and is due to appear in Manchester on Thursday night, said a drift towards extremism was "not inevitable".

He added: "After World War Two, at least in the United States and certainly in Europe as well, the federal government said 'we're going to set up some rules because we've seen what propaganda can do in the hands of somebody like Hitler.

"We can see how big lies and misinformation can distort and enrage and incite violence. So we're going to hold these folks responsible'."

"We have not chosen to do that."

Obama, who was president until 2016, said there was a "critical balance" that had to be found between free speech and regulation.

But the 65-year-old said the world and its leaders would need to develop mechanisms and new institutions that allow rigorous debate and disagreement while helping people separate out basic facts.

He said: "If I had a blame pie for why politics is so polarised and why we're seeing a rise of populism in many places, it's because of that information that is going into our brains every day."

Obama said this was leaving young people discouraged, and that "it's not a healthy diet that our brains are on at the moment".

He added that he feared things could become even worse with AI making it difficult to tell what is true and what is not, something he believes will make democracy hard to function.

Speaking about hope, Obama was asked whether he still believed in a Martin Luther King Jr phrase he quoted years ago, about the arm of the moral universe being long, but ultimately bending towards justice.

The former president said he still stands by the quote and argued that hope is an active "almost theological" choice people must make.

He said: "It is a decision about how do we face and embrace this finite amount of time we have on the planet."

He told the audience he believes it is healthier for people to believe that change is possible.

"I think when we act on that basis, it doesn't always work out, but over time things do get better," he said.

Obama also said there appears to be a cycle in humanity in which people forget lessons learned from the past and begin to take things for granted.

"We start thinking 'maybe using language in public from our politicians that fosters hatred and scapegoats certain people – immigrants, Jews, or blacks or gays – that's just talk, it's humour'."

He said people forget where that can lead, and become less tolerant.

Obama told the audience that the world is going to be dealing with "big challenges", but he said he thinks "we can be better" and that making the world better remains worth fighting for.