This "Thoughts & Prayers" Makeup Tutorial Delivers A Powerful Political Message

Sailor J, the "beauty guru" who effortlessly manages to mix politics and powerful messages in with her primers and powders, has once again used her satirical makeup tutorial format to draw attention to the fundamental faults in our society. Sailor J recently posted the Thoughts & Prayers Makeup Tutorial to illustrate how ineffective words are in the absence of action. As soon as viewers caught onto the irony, the video began to go viral.

Sailor J's video is in reaction to the horrific shooting that occurred at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, along with the all the other school shootings that have happened since 2018 began less than two months ago. On Feb. 14, a shooter killed seventeen students and educators and wounded many more when he opened fire at the high school using an AR-15 assault rifle.

In case you know nothing about guns (like myself), the AR-style rifles were first used in the Vietnam War and are known for "speedy reloading in combat situations," according to The Washington Post. They've been linked to many of the deadliest mass shootings in America's recent history. It's so commonly purchased that the National Rifle Association (NRA) even labeled it the AR-15 "America's Most Popular Rifle."

Rather than putting actual reform into action, many of our country's politicians have been offering their "thoughts and prayers" to the families and the students of the tragedy. It's a cliché trend that every time a shooting happens, the politicians offer "thoughts and prayers" instead of legislative action.

Sailor J shows us the inefficiency of thoughts and prayers to created change by using makeup as a metaphor.

"It isn't a new line," Sailor J says of Thoughts and Prayers, the satirical video, "it's been out for a while." She then turns the camera to all of her supplies necessary to create the look. She points to her phone, a makeup bag full of brushes, and to a blank space on her carpet where the invisible, intangible Thoughts and Prayers makeup products lie. She points out contour kits, mascara, and eyeliner, though no actual products exist.

She begins with an invisible foundation that's called "If You're White, It's A Mental Illness And If You're Brown, Then You're A Terrorist," and applies the nonexistent product to her face using a buffing brush.

"If you can't see it," she says, "it's probably just because you're not really strong enough in the spirit."

As she applies the nonexistent product to her face with no effect, she says, "Oh wow, that makes a world of difference. Wow."

She completes her eyes with liquid liner and "Bulletproof Black" mascara that's "supposed to match the vests that we're going to have to start putting on our children if we want them to make it past the sixth f*cking grade."

To give her look a glow, she uses an invisible highlighter called "Money," because "it's all our country f*cking cares about and it shines."

The blush is called "The Blood of Our Children," because it's what we're bathing in these days. It may be harsh, but it's real.

After she completes her look, Sailor J praises the fictional and invisible makeup line, Thoughts and Prayers. "This line is incredible," she says, "if you don't think so, it's probably because you need to get right with the Lord."

"Embrace the line," she says, "because nothing stops a bullet like thoughts and prayers."

At the end of her video, Sailor J draws attention to the GoFundMe campaign for the Stoneman Douglas Victims' Fund. The link is the only thing in the description box of her video. She refers to the shooting as "a f*cking tragedy that our Congress is just kind of breezing over," which really hits the nail right on the head. She encourages her viewers to donate and to share the link on all their social media sites if they themselves can't donate (and even if they can). She says, "We don't want to prevent any tragedies, we just want to clean it up after."

Through her tutorial, Sailor J makes the fallacy of "thoughts and prayers" abundantly clear. You can comment all you want. Say all the nice things you want, but if there isn't anything tangible there, nothing will ever be done.

If you want to be thoughtfully educated on other topics, like sexism, cultural appropriation, racism, and more, subscribe to Sailor J immediately. She proves that you have the power to make your voice heard in any possible medium. You can always make a difference.