John Oliver Warns Against Feeling ‘Depressingly Familiar Numbness’ in Wake of Mass Shootings

John Oliver opened his HBO late-night show on Sunday with a call for America to not allow itself to embrace numbness as a coping mechanism in the wake of the weekend’s mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, and to call out President Trump for creating “an environment” where ideas like white nationalism and anti-immigrant hysteria “can fester and indeed thrive.” “As I’m sure you are aware, America has just seen two mass shootings within 24 hours, in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas,” Oliver said at the opening of “Last Week Tonight.” “And while it’s still very early, it does feel like there are a couple of points that seem worth mentioning here. First, when it comes to gun control, I know it can feel like everything’s been said before. In fact, even pointing out that everything’s been said before, has been said before. In fact, even pointing out the fact that ‘everything’s been said before, has been said before,’ has been said before. “But while the depressingly familiar numbness that you may be currently feeling can help you handle the pain in the short term, in the long term it can actually be a real problem,...