Fuck your thoughts and prayers.

[Botany]

Link to tweet

********

I was just in Lansing 4 days ago on the way to Muskegon, MI for a funeral service for a long time friend, who was a proud MSU Alum, I'm wearing her MSU hat right now, my late father knew and was friends w/a # of faculty, administrators, and students @ Michigan State, and growing up in Columbus w/OSU I feel like I have lost a good friend. To come back from Michigan and then to wake to a Lansing Hospital's Director breaking down, the pain etched in Gov. Whitmer's face, and the security director for the campus of MSU saying enough is enough and we have to stop this bloodshed makes my heartache. Fuck your thoughts and prayers.



Ms. Alexandria Verner

[FM123]

1. Yep.

Spare us the thoughts and prayers, we need policy and change.

[Sky Jewels]

2. Good for him! I'm glad some elected officials are pushing back against (100% worthless) prayers.

Prayer has always been as effective as spitting into a bucket. At least when you spit into a bucket, the bucket actually exists to catch the spit.

Enough of the telepathic thoughts to a non-existent magical being. We need action!

[SergeStorms]

5. The "thoughts and prayers" response....

is nothing more than right-wing code for, "we're not actually going to do anything about it. We just like to make others believe we're thoughtful, caring christians".

May the three murdered MSU students be the spark that ignites gun reform in this country.

Not like there haven't been countless other murdered victims whose lives should have sparked gun reform, but sooner or later someone has to draw a line in the sand. How many more lives will be wasted before that finally happens?

[Sky Jewels]

17. Exactly.

Oh, and "this is not the time" to talk about gun law reform ... because NO time ever is, according to them.

[czarjak]

3. Feelings Matter.

[aggiesal]

4. America is a GUN ...

[calimary]

9. Dayum!

Got a link to this?

It’d be great for one of my Indivisible group’s Call to Action emails!

[NullTuples]

12. Feb 17, 2016: British poet Brian Bilston, aka the "poet laureate of Twitter" tweeted it

...as the image that was posted here. That is the origin. I try not to link to Twitter. His handle is @brian_bilston


You may find it as text somewhere if someone typed it in. Or maybe on his site: https://brianbilston.com

[calimary]

23. Thanks! I'll check.

[aggiesal]

16. Here are a couple of links. ...

https://brianbilston.com/

vimeo.com/237324933

[calimary]

20. Excellent! Thanks!

[malaise]

30. Check this one - from a friend

ChatGPT composed a poem for you using my prompts! With Apologies to Edgar Allan Poe.


Once upon a midnight dreary,
Politicians sat, weak and weary,
Pondering solutions to the gun control fight,
While the country's youth died night after night.

Suddenly there came a tapping,
As if someone gently rapping,
Rapping at the chamber door,
It was the raven, nothing more.

He spoke of the children's fears,
And the parents' endless tears,
Of the carnage wrought by guns,
And the politicians' empty puns.

Yet they still refused to act,
Their inaction was a brutal fact,
As the raven perched above,
Watching over the land he loved.

"Nevermore," he solemnly cried,
As the politicians brushed aside,
The calls for change and the people's pleas,
Leaving the land to suffer and bleed.

And the raven still sits there,
A symbol of the country's despair,
As the guns continue to take their toll,
And the politicians sell their souls.

So heed the raven's warning cry,
And let not the children die,
Demand change, and take a stand,
Or face the raven's eternal demand:
"Nevermore."

[NewHendoLib]

10. This.

[GGoss]

13. Bowling for Columbine - Happiness Is a Warm Gun montage (Warning: Graphic)

[Boomerproud]

18. K&R

Says it better than I ever could.

[JMCKUSICK]

6. Ever hear about the guy who prayed every single day to win the lottery?

He prayed and prayed, lived a great Christian life etc... He up and died and as he was admitted to heaven, he asked to see God.
God he asked, I was a great follower all my life, God said yes you were, so continues the man, why didn't you let me win the lottery?
God responded " The least you could have done is bought a ticket."

These thoughts and prayers accomplish exactly what they're designed to. NOTHING!! As long as we keep voting these assholes into office, we will keep getting thoughts and prayers.

We need to fight fire with fire!! They blame everything on radical leftists without shame. We can legitimately blame them as each mass shooting that happens is on their inaction and nothing else!

[Aristus]

7. I've been saying that for years.

Prayer ain't gonna do nothing. So get up off your knees and shake your ass!

Of course, the Criss-chins don't want to hear that. They're not going to do anything that requires substantive effort.

[IronLionZion]

14. That's their plan

they don't want any action. They don't even want any discussion of action. They always say it's too soon after a tragedy. Then we have another tragedy, and another, and another. Rinse (blood) and repeat.

[calimary]

8. Don't wanna hear about your thoughts and prayers.

They’re meaningless if you refuse to do something decisive to get rid of the DAMN guns.

[certainot]

11. sorry if this is getting old the last decade but MSU and UM support 18 NRA talk radio stations

at least. MSU -11, UM 7 - fakenewsradio.org - listing 87 that support 260 NRA stations. until americans end this shit real reform on any major issue is impossible

the schools broadcast football on those stations, probably many of the loudest in the state because they are x-limbaugh stations. the school brands, athletes, and mascots are used to sell advertising to pay for free support for the NRA and everything else radical republicans want.

the RW blowhards on those stations oppose ANY gun control, in unison, while making all the excuses possible and calling for thoughts and prayers after every mass shootings. the schools are endorsing that bullshit.

those stations make it impossible for any republican politician to support gun control of any kind.

they all sell the same anti-lgbtq, KKK, immigrant-hating, replacement theory, anti abortion bullshit

i heard the local rw radio asshole yesterday suggesting buying valentines presents from a gun store.

in florida the uni of Florida supports 10 - that made excuses for parkland and pulse.

in NY syracuse university support 9 - 6 x-limbaugh, 3 other - the uni is 150 miles from the buffalo shooting, half way in between the shooter's town and buffalo by major highway.

it is idiotic for students and faculty at those schools, and progressive and dem groups in those communities, not to complain about this shit. the schools have no excuse not to reread their missions statements and look for apolitical alts.

a mere public discussion, whatever the school or its republican donors do, will scare many advertisers away. if it happens at one school others will be shamed into following. when that starts to happen the radio ad industry will have to more to democratize the NRA radio monopoly and real reform will be much more likely.

[maxsolomon]

22. I've noticed crossover between RW talk radio hosts and sports broadcasters, too.

In many markets, particularly in professional sports. WLW carrying the Reds and hate talk.

Here in Seattle, KIRO-FM is a more "mainstream" news and talk station but had a vile mid-day host named Dori Monson. He was also the Seahawks pre-and post-game host, for > a decade.

Last month he dropped dead. Oh, how the sports community wept. How the station mourned on-air. "What a wonderful person, what a loss to the city".

No, he was poison in the ears of 1000s of Seattleites, particularly the retired/elderly who vote. Anti-urban, anti-government, anti-Liberalism.

I miss him like I miss Limbaugh.

[certainot]

27. imo a lot of republican dysfunction and fracturing relates to his absence. they miss him big time

cause his replacements will never be able to fill limbaugh's bloated space with the same quantity of excuses and rationalizations for their ignorance, hate, and bigotry and their denial of reality

[maxsolomon]

28. May they never find an adequate replacement.

But they'll keep trying. They've got a lot of airtime to fill.

[Act_of_Reparation]

25. Well, the important part is you found a way to feel superior

...to thousands of people in a state of shock and mourning.

Grats, man. Must feel nice.

[certainot]

26. really.... you keep up the thoughts and prayers eh?

[Act_of_Reparation]

29. That's a very nuanced position you've taken.

If I am following this train of logic, one either assumes an entire community traumatized by a mass shooting to be a bunch of deserving idiots, or else one is a useless dispenser of thoughts and prayers.

These truly are the hottest of takes. Keep 'em coming.

[certainot]

31. it's beyond me how you get to your initial comment.

maybe you can't understand the motivation for the criticism.

a fundamental quality of liberalism is self criticism and the ability to recognize mistakes, learn from them, and fix them, or at least not keep repeating them

[Act_of_Reparation]

33. How about the fundamental qualities of basic human decency?

Now, I may be an individual of poor understanding, but it seems to me calling thousands of traumatized people "idiotic" for failing to oppose, by arbitrary measure, their employer's or educator's advertising practices is kind of a dick move.

How many people know where their employer is advertising? The only way I'd know if they were advertising on right wing radio is if I happened to hear their advertisements on right wing radio... and I don't listen to right wing radio.

[sarisataka]

15. While rightly acknowledging the outrage,

Saying "Fuck your thoughts and prayers" is no more effective than the thoughts and prayers. There is a law in place that may prevented this shooting. Charges were filed but...

I posted this back in November-

We’re taking an ostrich approach to enforcing gun laws — with deadly results

The Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub shooting shows the limits of red-flag laws and the need for multiple approaches to prevent mass shootings. In 2021, the suspect in this shooting was arrested after reportedly threatening violence with a bomb, “multiple weapons” and ammunition. The threat was serious enough that police evacuated neighbors. Still, law enforcement did not seek a red-flag order, perhaps because the county commission had declared the county to be a Second Amendment sanctuary.

States such as Colorado with red-flag laws clearly need to use them more, especially where there is violent hate speech. The 31 states that do not have red-flag laws should pass them immediately. But, as a supplement to red-flag laws, we should empower law enforcement to prevent mass shootings by removing firearms from people who are prohibited from possessing firearms without a red-flag order.

The St. Louis school shooting in October illustrates. Just nine days before the deadly rampage, police said the shooter’s mother called 911 and asked them to remove her troubled son’s AR-style rifle. The police declined to do so, explaining that they did not have “clear authority” to confiscate the rifle that day because Missouri does not have a red-flag law. But unbeknownst to the officers, the shooter was committing a crime simply by possessing the firearm.

We know gun possession was a crime because earlier that month the shooter failed a federal instant background check. Licensed gun dealers in every state must run a background check to see if would-be purchasers fall into any of the federal or state prohibited categories. But bizarrely, police are not allowed to use the background check system, even when they have good reason to suspect that a person standing right in front of them is in illegal possession of a firearm. Blindfolding the police in this way likely contributed to the St. Louis tragedy and may lead to more gun deaths until the policy is changed.

https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/3745454-were-taking-an-ostrich-approach-to-enforcing-gun-laws-with-deadly-results/

In many cases the tools are there but either go unused or are blocked.

[Hekate]

21. Kudos to Rep. Ranjeev Puri for saying what must be said

[Mr. Sparkle]

24. +1

We should remember that these killers have supporters, and no matter how crass this sounds , its called the GOP

[dsharp88]

32. Today's mass shooting is in El Paso.

I wonder where Republicans will be laughing while they allege to offer thoughts and prayers tomorrow.