Bob Franken: Platitudes Won’t Cut It

I've been known to rail against meaningless and/or deceptive platitudes: "We wish him well," for instance, when referring to a departing employee. The real meaning is "May he burn in hell." There's also "Thank you for asking," which translates to "It's really none of your business."

But let's add a truly insidious one to the lot; we've been seeing it over and over again as Americans are killed or maimed by crazy people firing guns: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family" yada, yada yada. The New York Daily News got it right with its startling headline: "God Isn't Fixing This."

That was...