Gene Cernan has died

Re:Gene Cernan has died by gist on Monday January 16, 2017 @04:36PM (#13413244)

Agree. And a similar thing happens when the word hero is bandied about.

Example:

- Jump on train tracks (when it's not your job) to save a complete stranger even though it might leave your own family without you: HERO!

- Fireman runs into burning building to save people? HERO! (Even though that is the job description).

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Re:Gene Cernan has died by robotresearcher on Monday January 16, 2017 @04:41PM (#13413274)

But 'be a hero' is pretty much the job description of a firefighter.

See also 'badass' for special forces and 'brainy' for scientists. It's not wrong to describe them that way even if it's all in a day's work.

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Re:Gene Cernan has died by barking on Monday January 16, 2017 @04:52PM (#13413352)

That depends on the fire service. The FDNY fight fires aggressively. I know of other fire services where the number 1 priority is firefighter heath and safety, ie above that of the potential victims of fires. They still like to run marathons in their fire kit and play on the hero rep at every opportunity though.

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Re:Gene Cernan has died by mindcrime on Monday January 16, 2017 @09:05PM (#13414637)

The FDNY fight fires aggressively. I know of other fire services where the number 1 priority is firefighter heath and safety, ie above that of the potential victims of fires.

Those two things are not mutually exclusive. Saying "we make aggressive interior attacks and perform primary search" is fine, but you don't do that when you see signs of imminent structural collapse on arrival. All firefighters take risk, but it's a calculated risk. Now granted, the line is somewhat subjective and different departments do have different policies but still... I don't know of any department that preaches the idea that you display no judgment at all, and wantonly waste your life.

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Re:Gene Cernan has died by freehunter on Monday January 16, 2017 @08:51PM (#13414564)

If all the firemen die, who will fight fires in the future?

If you're in a town of 3,000 people, there are a very limited number of potential firemen you can have. If they die rescuing someone, dozens of others die because there is no one else to rescue them.

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Re:Gene Cernan has died by mulmen on Monday January 16, 2017 @10:05PM (#13414883)

In many rural settings there is no dedicated fire department and it all operates on a volunteer basis.

Around harvest time it was expected that the neighbors would have their tractors standing by hooked up with discs to till the crops and build fire lines.

Dedicated fire fighters aren't the only people who can put out fires.

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Re:Gene Cernan has died by freehunter on Tuesday January 17, 2017 @08:53AM (#13417467)

My town doesn't even have dedicated firefighters. Everyone is a volunteer. And the guy saying that they're not a real firefighter unless they choose to die in a structure collapse is sickening to me.

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Re:Gene Cernan has died by baddox on Monday January 16, 2017 @06:24PM (#13413968)

At least both of those are examples of people saving lives. To be analogous with the parent commenter's tragedy claim, if need to claim to be a hero for something like complimenting someone's socks.

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Re:Gene Cernan has died by TeMPOraL on Monday January 16, 2017 @04:46PM (#13413311)

The way word "hero" is used, it pretty much excludes paid professionals by definition. You could argue that society doesn't need heroes but trained experts instead, but that's an orthogonal discussion.

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Re:Gene Cernan has died by mulmen on Monday January 16, 2017 @06:29PM (#13414002)

So I guess nobody actually deserves a Medal of Honor then?

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Re:Gene Cernan has died by baddox on Monday January 16, 2017 @06:57PM (#13414140)

That medal is specifically for people who go above and beyond the call of duty, meaning their act of heroism was not simply the job they signed up for.

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