Paul Ryan Criticized over "Thoughts and Prayers" Comment

[Rev. Rye]

Well, since apparently it needs to be said for the 3rd time:

Praying and doing nothing else when there are things you can do isn't enough. Prayer should always be accompanied by taking action when possible. That's why we have the Corporal Works of Mercy: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc. Prayer is meant to be a supplement to whatever action is possible, not a substitute for it.

So, unless someone is only praying and not helping when they have the opportunity to, I don't see why anyone would take issue with it. Especially when it brings a sense of comfort and peace to people who, oh, I don't know, just lost their daughter to a violent attack? Maybe we shouldn't use this as an opportunity to criticise prayer just for the heck of it when there are people out there who lost the ones they love most and feel comforted by prayers.

The part of your statement I bolded is the crucial point. Paul Ryan is a lawmaker. Not only that, but he's the Speaker of the House; if Donald Trump and Mike Pence were to be taken out of commission (assuming Pence goes before he has the chance to name a VP of his own), he would become the President. He has the power to at least do something about it; he could either find ways to increase funding for mental health programs so the people who might be mentally ill enough to do such things but not completely beyond the point of no return the help they need. He could also help pass some gun control legislation so that the people fucked up enough to want to commit mass murder can't actually get the means to do it (well, legally, anyway.) They're not the silver bullets that many people claim, but they can certainly be helpful. And yet, he does nothing. Every time a mass shooting happens, the Republican Party does nothing more than declare moments of silence, offer thoughts and prayers, and blame everyone else.





Make no mistake, though these words are technically speaking about AIDS activists who can't get their shit together enough to get anything done about a disease that's infected more people than Chairman Mao killed, they still resonate about other issues, like, for instance, mass shootings. Mother Jones has compiled a database of mass shootings (wherein a minimum of three people died) in the America in the past 35 years; this year, there have been a total of ten shootings, by far the highest number in over 35 years (and I'm sure the record stretches further back.) The rates of most crimes have decreased in the past couple of decades, but mass shootings have only become more common. And unless we do something about it, nothing will change. I don't expect I can do much to stop the tide (seriously, I live in a part of the country where Democrats [who are at least more inclined to do something in this area] are pretty much locked into winning, so much that when I voted for my state representative last year, the Republicans didn't even bother to field a candidate), but the Republican Party can do something. However, what do they do? "Thoughts and Prayers." And blocking any possible means to stem the tide.





Seriously, earlier in this thread, I stated it was like the Republican Party had a vested interest in keeping mass shootings going so it can always have a bogeyman. The fact that I can say shit like that and have it seem that bloody plausible says volumes about how fucked up this country really is.