POINTSOFVIEW | I’D LIKE TO SAY
By Patrick Carolan
Apathy Is the New Deadly Sin
Patrick Carolan
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xpress outrage, offer prayers, do nothing; express outrage, offer prayers, do nothing; repeat! Sound familiar? This is our pattern after every mass shooting. We hear about a horrific shooting where many men, women, children (fill in the blank) are killed by— depending on if the person is white, black, or Muslim—a terrorist, thug, or mentally unstable individual. We are shocked. The talking heads on TV ask: “How this could happen?” Our political and religious leaders offer their prayers and thoughts. For a few days, we talk about how we have to do something so this does not keep happening. When things get back to normal, nothing changes except the headlines. We bury our heads in the sand and keep electing the same people over and over who refuse to do anything. It is predictable what political leaders will say after an event like the horrific 2017 shooting in Las Vegas. Those on the right will talk about the need for mental health reform. Former Speaker Paul Ryan was right on cue after Las Vegas, saying, “Mental health reform is a critical ingredient to making sure we can try and prevent some of these things that have happened in the past.” After the 2015 Sandy Hook shooting, Ryan called for a moment of silence on the floor of the House of Representatives, talked about the need to reform the mental health system, and criticized the Democrats for politicizing the issue. On the other side of the aisle, the left calls for their own solution: gun control. Their response is equally narrow and repetitious,
including accusing Republicans of political aims. And on either side, nothing gets done. MULTIPLE ISSUES
I am beginning to think Ryan is right: The issue is about mental health. Albert Einstein is credited with saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Perhaps we should be looking at the mental health not of those committing these horrific acts, but rather of those who sit back and do the same thing over and over, expecting that this time the results will be different. Maybe Einstein is right. We keep reacting the same way, looking for the same solutions, proposing the same legislation, and hoping we get different results. It is not just the issue of guns. It is a multitude of issues including racism, climate degradation, immigration, human trafficking, Islamophobia, abortion, and on and on. It is not just folks who would be considered “right-leaning”; it is those who are on the left as well. In her book No Is Not Enough, Naomi Klein asks: “How do they intersect? What root cause connects them? How can these issues be tackled in tandem, at the same time?” Her questions are some of the more interesting ones. We tend to view issues in isolation. We live in silos, not really thinking about the intersectionality of all these issues. Issues like gun safety and regulations often are viewed simply from the perspective of the Second Amendment. People who oppose any
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UPPER LEFT: COURTESY PATRICK CAROLAN; TOP: BIALASIEWICZ/FOTOSEARCH
Patrick previously served as executive director of the Franciscan Action Network. He is also a cofounder of the Global Catholic Climate Movement. He currently serves as director of Catholic outreach for Vote Common Good. He is a recipient of the 2015 White House Champions of Change Award and is personally dedicated to social justice through individual and societal transformation.
