I have this phrase everywhere. In the comment sections under every video related to the Jefferey Epstein files on Instagram, Facebook, X or TikTok,  “America isn’t mad enough.” The sad part is that it’s true, we aren’t mad enough. We have grown so numb to the violence and corruption that surrounds us that even the Epstein files barely sting. We know what he did. We know who else was involved. And yet, our collective outrage feels muted. The release of the files should have shaken us, but the reaction has been sluggish at best. Granted, over half the files contain heavy redactions, but the parts we do see, the pictures, the emails, the diary entries, should have ignited something. Instead, they simply flicker across our feeds from time to time. This story will dominate headlines for a few weeks, maybe a month at best, before we move on to the next scandal. Give it a few years and the Epstein crimes will be just another chapter in our history books. 

This pattern of subdued reactions became more apparent when the issue moved to formal congressional scrutiny. The congressional hearing featuring current U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi last week was meant to pry open the decisions that allowed Epstein’s clients to remain protected behind black boxes. Yet, even a grueling four hours of testimony — full of contradictions, evasions and moments that should have angered any decent person — barely registered beyond a week’s worth of headlines. The national reaction was muted, the outrage momentary. If we can sit through hours watching public injustice and walk away unfazed, it raises an uncomfortable question: have we, as a society, truly become numbed to the suffering of others?

What makes the silence more unsettling is how predictable it has become. We’ve developed a pattern of outrage: shock, trending hashtags, heated debates, maybe even a protest, followed by exhaustion and distraction. Social media loves to give us the illusion of participation. We can scroll all day through the horrific details, leave angry comments, repost some headline and then return to our normal routines. Real accountability, however, requires pressure, the kind that doesn’t disappear once the algorithm shifts the spotlight. When outrage has an expiration date, so does justice. 

America isn’t mad enough, and we may never be mad enough. Yet there is still hope. I know Americans can be persistent about change. Many of you out there haven’t given up on different issues; your ICE and No Kings protests are massive throughout the nation. Where is that same energy for our children? The ones who suffered under Epstein’s hand? I hope that America does care, even just a little. That we haven’t truly given up on justice for them. Justice for the little girl with tape around her wrist, for the little boy standing next to his abuser, for the teenagers and young women who were persuaded by false promises. Justice forgotten is justice denied, and they have already been denied enough.

Anger alone will not fix what happened, but indifference guarantees nothing will change. Being “mad enough” doesn’t mean living in perpetual outrage, but refusing to let stories like these be buried by the next headline. It means continuing to demand transparency even if it’s uncomfortable, and remembering that justice is not a trending topic but a commitment. If we want to believe that America still cares, then caring must extend beyond comments and headlines. IT must show up in conversations, civic engagement and a collective insistence that exploitation is never old news. The victims of Epstein deserve more than a fleeting wave of attention; they deserve a public that refuses to forget. Whether we rise to meet that responsibility will determine the kind of society we choose to be.