Sending “thoughts and prayers” has become redundant, especially since tragedies such as the recent Minnesota school shooting have become more common. People need action in addition to words, but that happens only if high-ranking government officials take an interest in addressing these tragedies.
In theory, offering condolences after a major tragedy shouldn’t be controversial, but rather expected. Acknowledging the victims’ suffering should give them and their loved ones comfort in knowing they have not been forgotten.
However, people are growing contemptuous of sending “thoughts and prayers” because they can appear more like virtue signaling instead of sincere condolences. Whether done online or in person, many who send thoughts and prayers after a tragedy likely offer nothing more and have no connection to the victims. This makes it hard not to feel like sympathizers are only giving condolences to feel good about themselves or be seen doing a good deed.
This practice is significantly more insulting when done by politicians, who should be able to do something to prevent these tragedies, but often fail to do so. In the case of the Minnesota shooting, this was aggravated by the fact that one of the well-wishers was Vice President J.D. Vance, whose political party generally favors fewer restrictions on firearms.
Those with lower positions in the federal government likely can’t do much on their own since a bill without strong support in Congress will likely collect dust until it expires in two years.
Scot Schraufnagel, a professor of political science at NIU, said that bills can take a long time to be finished, if at all.
“There’s always a huge backlog (of bills) and they never finish it,” Schraufnagel said.
To compensate, the majority party leadership in both the House and Senate decides on which bills will be considered. The Republican party currently has the majority in both chambers of Congress and thus has the most power to pass or block legislation addressing mass shootings.
The Republican Party also currently controls the executive branch, giving them the power to address mass shootings in the U.S. However, the current administration will likely try to implement alternative solutions, but improved gun control is the most straightforward way of solving mass shootings, which goes against the Republican party’s beliefs.
The legislative process is frustrating and the federal government has many things to worry about every day. However, that should not excuse top politicians from acknowledging that a problem exists while failing to act on it.
