Let's stop hero-worshipping firemen please

We should only hero worship the volunteers who go overseas to murder foreigners and steal their stuff.

At least 1% of their time is useful unlike the rest of us who are either sending emails or posting crap on Letsrun

Bad Wigins wrote:

We should only hero worship the volunteers who go overseas to murder foreigners and steal their stuff.

Well, there are

1) First Responders heroes who knowingly risk their lives in dangerous

situations to protect and rescue the public

2) Marines suicide soldiers who the government sends to fight and kill without advanced planning with 100% liklihood of injury and/or death

I don't want to and never did either but I stand for the US flag to show my respect and admiration to First Responders and Marines

I vote we worship cancer research people. Work their entire life with no hope a finding a cure, but yet get paid for it. I am 52 someone needs to pay me and worship me for the next 20 years to break 2:00 for the marathon. Damn, someone throw me a 5K I need a raise

I personally don't buy into "hero worshipping" but firefighters have to -- as required by their job -- perform some extremely dangerous and damaging duties.

This includes chemical fires and other types of situations where their physical health could be damaged for life, PTSD-inducing cleanups of train-track suicides, etc., and going up to save people in multi-floored building fires where the risk of death is high.

Do you, OP, have to do any of these things in your job?

east coast wrote:

99% of the time firemen have the best job in the world.

And 1% of the time their job is literally hell on earth.

I actually think firemen get wayyyyy less hero-worshipping than cops and the military.

We should stop hero worship of first responders and military, period.

We should greatly RESPECT what they do and the danger that they can face but, blind worship of someone in uniform is disingenuous and dangerous. Most military members push paper, do administrative duties, and perform maintenance work yet, we don't grovel before accountants, auto mechanics, and parts clerks and thank them for their service. Relatively few soldiers, sailors, Marines, or airmen ever see real combat and I have never personally known any that have seen it to bask in glory and demand special praise because they did.

Cops? Mostly good people serving their community. A few are power crazed jerks and they should not get a free pass when they violate the law or the rights of others.

Firefighters/EMTs save lives and property on a regular basis and probably face more danger than the others. Yes, there is a lot of down time waiting for the alarm but when they get the call, it's usually because someone truly needs help.

IMHO - our cultural fetish for over honoring these folks is nothing more than fake patriotism and a tool of control.

john utah wrote:

Nobody should hero worship anyone, I agree. That said, I believe law enforcement, military, fire fighters, first responders and such deserve a level of respect and honor.

I think the deal with fire fighters is that it's 99% nothing/easy and then 1% terror and extreme risk. Somebody has to step up when the 1% comes knocking. On top of that, these guys have to know what to do and then execute in extreme situations. Fires in various structures and proper responses = fairly complex / sophisticated stuff.

And teachers!

There would be a lot more dead people if we had no waste management than if we had no fire fighters. So from this day forward, let us all worship the garbage man.

Respect for the volunteers, like this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkQZUpsBK3o

hose girl wrote:

Karl Hungus wrote:

Big city firemen are good - my friend's husband is one and was stabbed by a crackhead. Some get shot at by jerks. I don't mind.

yah, they work TWO DAYS a week, live in Pennsylvania, often have second jobs and many-- not all-- are chronic drunks. NYFD has been egregiously-- and blatantly-- racist for decades also.

They've done some good work at times but "The Rubber Men" as they are known have also gotten a million blowskis in extra compensation.

Seems fair compensation but veneration? No way.

Hilarious when, drunk, they turn on their own tho'.

OMG not racism!

yupiagree wrote:

I vote we worship cancer research people. Work their entire life with no hope a finding a cure, but yet get paid for it. I am 52 someone needs to pay me and worship me for the next 20 years to break 2:00 for the marathon. Damn, someone throw me a 5K I need a raise

So what exactly are the results of the trillions of dollars and man hours spent on finding a cure for cancer?

qrg

Innocent wimps wrote:

Let's not forget that firemen are famous among other responders for being first-class thieves. They are known for stealing while inside structures they are working to put out fires within. This is something that is not normally discussed with outsiders, but among those who engage in response activities firemen are often given the stink eye because they are considered dishonest and untrustworthy because of their stealing while on the job.

Wow, I didn't know that! I do know that I have never heard of a cop doing anything dishonest.

A two page firemen thread, and no mention of the firehouse dog!!?!?

Freeky Neat wrote:

They also have a very high incidence of pretty severe back injuries. Sure they have great insurance and benefits the rest of their lives, but that doesn't make your back good again.

Of course they do, "back injuries" are basically impossible to prove/disprove.

Agreed. I worked for a municipality in another department and saw Firefighters basically demand the best of everything, complain the most about pay, and do the least.

Work 2-3 days a week, sleeping 1/3 or more of it away and being paid. Get an earlier retirement age. Get paid to workout, cook, watch TV, and hangout with their friends.

However, they're a necessity for a metropolitan or suburban area. I just feel much the same way about them as I do teachers: you've got it pretty good, nobody forced you to go that route, you knew it wasn't super pay before you signed up; so don't expect me to feel badly for you or pat you on the back too hard. If you have to come to a fire at my house, please make sure all the people get out, and pets if I ever have another, but please let the structure burn to the ground so I don't have to repair, I'd rather rebuild.

The USA has enjoyed relative peace for 30+ years. Special forces participate in most of the real engagements. Signing up for the marines is tantamount to suicide in wartime, but in the last 30 years the marines have been about the cushiest job you could pick in the military. The marines represent exactly the kind of armed conflict we have been trying to avoid, which is to say that all warfare now tries to be done through technical, surgical means rather than by throwing lives at the problem.