The immediate praising and coddling of first responders directly after a tragedy - Is this a uniquely American thing?

Because catching slogans are so much easier than fair pay, safe working conditions, and preventative infrastructure maintenance.

True R1 but really, it's become such an immediate knee-jerk response in these situations. It's almost as if it's a requirement. I don't oppose giving credit at all, it's just that it almost eclipses the initial efforts to provide information to the public. Officials are so absorbed with making sure 'first responders' are credited. It's completely appropriate in the coming days and even maybe within the first 24 hours. But, it's so immediate and seems so forced.

We have to coddle the first responders. I mean, who wants a job that pays north of $200k per year, has generous benefits, a fat retirement, and at the end of the day, isn't even in the list of the top-20 most dangerous jobs? If we all didn't tell them how precious and special they are, they would all just quit.

Look death and dismemberment in the face and get back to me on how coddled they are!

After 9/11 First Responders finally got the recognition they deserved. They are underpaid, over worked, but do more for people outside of medical professionals then any other group. Can't praise them enough

R5, I don't think anyone is saying they shouldn't be praised. But it's a bit over the top when a governor will use an entire press conference mere hours after a tragedy to focus on praising them, while they're still in the throws of doing their job. Don't you think?

Because if you don't constantly kiss their ass, they will stop working.

[quote]After 9/11 First Responders finally got the recognition they deserved.

And how do we recognize them? Got their backs when the conditions (specifically on 9/11, but I think we are smart enough to realize the conditions they face are similarly and routinely dangerous) merit it? Hardly.

Ask Jon Stewart.

Also, talk is cheap.

OP if you have to ask you will never understand.

[quote] They are underpaid,

Bahahahaha!

“Throws”. Oh, dear.

@r8, "And how do we recognize them?"

We bitch about them getting praise on DL 🤨

In the West, there many groups of people who are far too coddled. First responders are not among them.

Really? You can make upwards of $200k on a high school diploma. Retire at 45 and live on a pension with full healthcare till you die.

Sounds pretty sweet to me.

I think it’s more that public officials need to give some sort of public appearance at a time when they really don’t know anything. They just need words to fill the airtime and praising first responders is pretty harmless.

[quote]We have to coddle the first responders. I mean, who wants a job that pays north of $200k per year, has generous benefits, a fat retirement, and at the end of the day, isn't even in the list of the top-20 most dangerous jobs?

Maybe you should leave your job as a Walmart stock clerk and be an EMS first responder in Baltimore. You'd probably go back to Walmart.

[quote]As of Mar 19, 2024, the average hourly pay for the Ems jobs category in Baltimore is $14.67 an hour.

I pray for the bridge 🙏

R14 EMTs make diddly squat

R19, R16: plucking EMTs from the soup of first responders is like pointing at teachers working for elite boarding schools making $200k per year and using that as en example that teachers are overpaid writ large. And yes, it is a travesty that EMTs make so little they might as well be Walmart cashiers, but that doesn't mitigate the fact that policemen and firemen are some of the highest-paid public employees in government. And it is outrageous: a attorney friend who specializes in labor law is constantly regaling me with stories of cops who were hired onto the force in their 20s, sustain an injury in their 30s qualifying them for full retirement including life-long healthcare and receiving a generous payout (courtesy of taxpayers), but then go to the next town over and begin career #2; rinse and repeat. I know of at least a half-dozen cops who make over half a million per year between retirement(s), overtime, injury awards and all of the perks and benefits that come with [italic]these[/italic] public sector jobs.

And what's the difference between cops/firefighters and EMTs (and for that matter, the vast majority of public servants)? The only kind of unions that Republicans like and support.

This might be cynical of me but I think it's a way to immediately dumb down the conversation around a disaster. Politicians can gush about first responders and avoid awkward questions about their response to a disaster or how the disaster happened in the first place.

I really noticed this after Hurricane Maria. People were criticizing the government for not doing enough to help Puerto Rico and the response on the right was "how DARE you criticize our FIRST RESPONDERS".

It does give you something to talk about other than "how the fuck did a whole bridge collapse because a very foreseeable thing happened?"

It would have been great if the harbormaster had called and cleared the bridge after the ship lost power the second time and was drifting. Did he think it would bounce?

They're praised because they see and deal with shit that everyday people don't. If you're ever in a catastrophic event you'll be praying for them. They deserve a lot of credit. Those divers got in the water in the middle of the night amid chaos and saved people. They're fucking heros.

We need a hero. Is there a hero?

Yes. Americans put first responders, law enforcement, and the military on a pedestal. We don't do the same for inventors, surgeons, and thinkers. Dunno what that says about us.

R26 Amen to that. And I see a lot of military folks who are complete knuckle-draggers and assholes.God forbid you say it aloud.

R27, I love it when deplorables go off about how they "protect" us and our freedom. Meanwhile, they never praise the people who make their day-to-day life possible: those who pick and process the food we eat, make our drinking water potable, keep the electricity on, etc.

For them, man + gun = apex of civilization.

I worked in a clerical capacity in law enforcement and they are constantly having memorials, promotions, processions, commemorations, ceremonies, awards, citations for bravery, photo ops... It's staggering. Their need for praise is bottomless.

I love how they name entire stretches of highway and freeway after random cops. As if anybody else cares.

I believe firemen are the real EMT first responders. I think ambulance personnel just transfer and drive. Last time I worked in the healthcare field we weren’t allowed to do anything much before the fire trucks arrived.

I have had the lives of friends and family saved by first responders.

I have had my own life saved when they had to take me off a mountain after I fell while hiking.

I was in NYC for 9/11 and saw what those people went through that day and for weeks afterward - operating under conditions that killed many of them over the long term.

Numerous fire departments and emergency support teams are either volunteer or are supported by volunteer staff.

As for the US Army - yeah, there's a lot of dopes who serve - but after seeing what the Russian Army is like, they're the fucking MIT master class in comparison. And the US Army has been the biggest ladder to the middle class since the days of WWII.

R1, R3 & R6 are the same trolls.

The Army being the biggest ladder to the middle class is nothing to brag about. It just means we have shitty social mobility.

Given that the Russian Army is currently the biggest ladder to a body bag, I'll take it.

“Thank you for your service!” 🤡

Hardly, R33. Do you know how to work a computer?

Cops and firefighters deserve every penny. The fact that EMTs are underpaid does not make the others overpaid.