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Diggs: Magic Won’t Stop Gun Violence; Action Will!

By Cory Allen Heidelberger on 2018-08-03

My Roslyn neighbor Lawrence Diggs is a deep thinker, but he’s no magical thinker. In his column in today’s Aberdeen American News, he mocks the “magical thinking” involved in the “thoughts and prayers” response to gun violence and other political issues:

Lawrence Diggs: "They are not like us; they ARE us." Humanize everybody.
Lawrence Diggs: no magician!

One solution that is floated almost every time there is a mass shooting is the “thoughts and prayers” solution. This is insultingly magical thinking when the people are gunned down while in a church worshiping God.

What exactly should people be praying for? Should we pray that the NRA goes bankrupt or stop contributing to political campaigns? Should we pray that gun companies stop making guns? Should we pray that people stop voting for politicians that take money from the NRA? Do we need divine intervention for that? Couldn’t we just fix that ourselves? Why would God listen to people who believe God needs them to have a gun to help God protect people? Did the thoughts and prayers work the last time? [Lawrence Diggs, “Politicians Relying on Magical Thinking,” Aberdeen American News, 2018.08.03]

Problems don’t go away magically. They don’t get solved magically, either. If we want to solve problems like gun violence and the infiltration of the gun lobby by Putin’s propagandists, we need to take practical action… like supporting and voting for candidates who take a common-sense approach to guns.

Published in South Dakota

5 Comments

  1. Robin Friday 2018-08-03 13:14

    I have loved Mr. Diggs’ columns in the newspaper for as long as I can remember. Thank you for staying at it, Mr. Diggs.

  4. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-08-04 08:49

    Interesting filing, Mike, but let’s take add some grains of salt: the NRA is claiming financial catastrophe as part of its lawsuit against the State of New York for allegedly harming its business operations and trying to stifle its free speech. The NRA could be overstating its losses for lawsuit impact.

  5. Buckobear 2018-08-04 20:02

    …. but, but … “hope and prayers?’

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