“We have to be held responsible for what we say”
By: Robert Avsec, FSPA Operations Chief
Sharing this post from a LinkedIn colleague, Bill Carey, Associate Editor for FireRescue1 and EMS1 at Lexipol.
I heard this statement on CSPAN this morning in a discussion about politics, hate speech, violence and fear. The bulk of the discussion and comments focused on beliefs and whether or not they are true and if the media has a responsibility for the rhetoric and cycle.
On social media, it’s common to see assertions such as “We’re losing hundreds every year!” or “Unsafe practices are killing us faster than ever”. However, verified fatality data often tells a different story, showing that actual line-of-duty death rates have fluctuated and in some categories declined, even as online narratives emphasize fear and danger.
This dynamic is similar to fear conditioning, where a neutral object becomes associated with fear through repeated pairings with an aversive stimulus. In social media terms, even neutral fireground images can become signals of danger because they’re repeatedly paired with alarming commentary or anecdotes.
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