Sorry David Brooks ... Don't Shoot The Messenger — Letters that should have been in the new york times

3.10.23

To the editor:

David Brooks shoots the messenger by suggesting that progressives are engaging in 'catastrophizing' - a maladaptive mental activity that interferes with effective problem solving and a healthy sense of agency (3.10.23 The self-destructive effects of progressive sadness). For progressives, catastrophe abounds: racial injustice, gun violence, loss abortion rights, climate change to name a few. This is a lived reality, and should not be denigrated (however unintentional) tas an anxious state of mind. That many conservatives deem these problems as non-issues, or pay lip service to them, or feel threatened by the needed solutions to these catastrophes can lead to problematic efforts to 'cancel' those individuals who hold opposing views. But that fact in no way diminishes the life threatening catastrophes we face both nationally and globally.

Respectfully,

Larry S. Sandberg