I know Kevin Smith was raised Catholic, but I don't think he is still practicing. However, I read that he still goes to church right before he releases a new movie and prays, so the tweet while may not mean much for some people, may be more meaningful for Kevin Smith personally. Just my 2 cents.
It's more of a symbolic gesture than anything. Whether or not the original tweet meant that Pratt was literally praying and thought the power of god could help or just meant it symbolically is irrelevant.
The point is that a bunch of morons, and obviously not just on twitter, are under the misguided impression that wishing thoughts and prayers for someone who has a heart attack is the same thing as politicians and NRA members wishing thoughts and prayers to victims of gun violence.
In one case, the thoughts and prayers are literally all a person can do. Either before or after the incident, nothing Chris Pratt could or should ever do was going to help Kevin Smith. Wishing him well is the extent of his ability to help.
In another case thoughts and prayers are a callous and self serving hollow message that provides literally zero support. All the while ignoring the fact that there are tangible ways that gun violence and the florida tragedy, and others like it, could actually be avoided with real action and wishing thoughts and prayers is just about the most insulting thing anyone could do, considering the people doing it are at least partly responsible for the tragedy happening in the first place due to their support for guns and being in the pocket of the NRA and gun manufacturers.
But yeah, pretty much exactly the same when you think about it.
Anyways, I'm a huge Smith fan. Hope he has a speedy recovery and is able to get back on track health wise.
I've loved anything he does since Mallrats. Both Clerks movies are amazing and Dogma is brilliant. I've seen him live 4 or 5 times including flying to LA to see him and Ralph Garman for Hollywood BabbleOn (even got a shout out!).
Some of his stories from his Q&As are legendary. Superman, Prince, when he met Jen and the zipper incident, his anal fissure, bruce willis, Sheki (sp?) his miniature dachshund going thru heat and on and on.
His last few movies have been hit and miss but given the hundreds upon hundreds of hours of free entertainment he's given us thru his podcasts, I'll still see anything he makes. Even Moose Jaws. Is that still a real thing? I've been away from his podcasts for a while now. But at some point I'll have to binge a whole bunch. It's easy to fall behind and I've been too busy to catch up.
Here's the anal fissure story. I think it extends into part 14 and maybe even 15. Like all his stories, it is a long one. But worth it.
Last edited by Cecil Terwilliger; 03-01-2018 at 09:17 AM.
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Those are respectful statements and factually correct. It would have made sense for Pratt to praise modern medicine, the hospital and/or the doctors. To appeal to god is super dumb and people for nicely pointed that out.
I personally don't like the sentiment of somebody praying for me. It makes them feel good for "doing something" but does nothing whatsoever to help my situation. I don't like that somebody can smugly feel good for doing something when they did nothing.
I think that's taking things a little far. There's plenty of evidence to show that positive attitudes improve recovery. If Chris Pratt's well wishes improved Kevin Smiths mood, then he helped with the recovery. It's a small thing when viewed in isolation, but someone who gets a lot of positive support will recover way better then someone without any support.
If Pratt had just ended his tweet at "praying my ass off for you", I'd guess there'd be little to no backlash. The part about believing in the healing power of praying and asking everyone else to pray got a little carried away and came across as trying to impose his beliefs on others and discounting the roles of the doctors.
I don't think anyone had suggested that thoughts and prayers take the place of modern medicine. It's equally ridiculous to suggest positive messages will have no impact on Smiths recovery.
e: This whole thing sounds like a bunch of 'spergy edge-lords trying to push a "look at this dumbass who believes in god" narrative into a situation that doesn't warrant that kind of a response.
I don't think anyone had suggested that thoughts and prayers take the place of modern medicine. It's equally ridiculous to suggest positive messages will have no impact on Smiths recovery.
'Thoughts and Prayers' are pretty much all anyone who isnt a qualified Medical Professional can do.
"You have our thoughts and prayers because we know nothing about modern medicine and presume that those who do are taking good care of you. This and some flowers and balloons are basically the best we can do."
I dont see anyone saying:
"Oh yeah, you may have performed his triple-bypass but I prayed for him! Who is the real hero here?!?!?"
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If Pratt had just ended his tweet at "praying my ass off for you", I'd guess there'd be little to no backlash. The part about believing in the healing power of praying and asking everyone else to pray got a little carried away and came across as trying to impose his beliefs on others and discounting the roles of the doctors.
As was stated by Gunn, its not like Pratt was going to shoulder the doctors out of the way and proclaim a faith healing.
I think that people sometimes want to misread or exaggerate when someone talks about the healing power of prayer. In this case, he probably believes that praying and asking for the good lord to look out for Kevin Smith is helpful. That's all. Its the same as saying, I'm hoping for the best. Prayer for some people or praying for someone is an action where they hope that they're at least trying to hope for the best.
I get it, when I see massive disasters or mass shootings or whatever and someone says on Twitter or facebook or whatever that they're sending hopes and prayers, they're making a tragedy about themselves. Don't forget about me, I'm helping. Well no your really not. What they're saying is don't forget about me, I'm making a empty gesture, but I'm doing something.
Prat is not saying that the power of Christ is going to heal him, he's not dismissing the doctors and shooting lightning out of his arse. Its a situation where Pratt really can't do anything else, so he's doing his best.
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Yep the internet has become a giant outrage culture factory and people love to bring out the pitchforks and hunt down people they feel have done something remotely offensive.
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Nein! That is not how you spell Frank Garman's name.
And I hope he sticks around, I have a DVD of Joe Schmo season one I would't mind getting signed.
Hopefully. When I saw them in LA Kev left right away but Ralph, ahem Frank, stuck around and signed autographs. He was the nicest guy. Like he was excited that I wanted him to sign my babble on tshirt and get his picture.
