Nailed it. It's virtue-signaling. It's their way of saying that they're better than you because they think about this stuff and empathize with the down-trodden, while most people are too humble to lie that they truly think about and care for the down-trodden or just don't brag about the charity work that they do.
The thing about "thoughts and prayers" is the knowledge that there is nothing you can do to help them is implicit in the statement. There's a certain humility to it. That's why it's thoughts and prayers to xxx mass shooting, and not "let's do another pointless gun grabbing law that benefits the Democrats".
Nailed it. It's virtue-signaling. It's their way of saying that they're better than you because they think about this stuff and empathize with the down-trodden, while most people are too humble to lie that they truly think about and care for the down-trodden or just don't brag about the charity work that they do.
The thing about "thoughts and prayers" is the knowledge that there is nothing you can do to help them is implicit in the statement. There's a certain humility to it. That's why it's thoughts and prayers to xxx mass shooting, and not "let's do another pointless gun grabbing law that benefits the Democrats".