Apple CEO warns against ‘cynicism’ in Washington

Apple CEO Tim Cook cautioned against letting healthy skepticism turn to cynicism in Washington. During a commencement speech at George Washington University, Cook used his company as a model for how students could help “change the world.” “A healthy amount of skepticism is fine,” he said. “Though too often in this town, it turns to cynicism. To the idea that no matter who’s talking or what they’re saying, that their motives are questionable, their character is suspect, and if you search hard enough, you can prove that they are lying. Maybe that's just the world we live in. But graduates, this is your world to change.”

Cook talked about Apple’s commitment to promoting equality and education and protecting the environment. He made a passing reference to how the prevalence of smartphones have empowered people who “witness injustice and want to expose it.” He spoke about his own childhood in Alabama and the “betrayal” he felt when in 1977 he met the state’s former Governor George Wallace, who a decade earlier had “embraced the evils of segregation.” He contrasted that with his heroes Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. “But shaking his hand felt like a betrayal of my own beliefs. It felt wrong. Like I was selling a piece of my soul,” he said of meeting Wallace.