In her closing remarks, Streep made a case for engaged citizenship. She noted that European journalists routinely asked her about the state of the world — assuming that any member of the human race would have thoughts on the subject — while American journalists never did, unless to make a crack about Jane Fonda. She urged the graduates not to let their special character and values get swallowed up by what she called 'the great chewing complacency,' and to demand excellence not just in their careers but in their civic lives.