The Problem With Calling Essential Workers "Heroes"

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital workers were being applauded as they walked in and out of work. Many were calling them heroes. But there is a problem with that. It's not that what they were doing (and still doing) wasn't heroic. It''s that, in the public's mind, a hero is superhuman, and when you're superhuman you don't need support because you can do it all yourself. But healthcare workers and essential workers needed then and still need a tremendous amount of support, and now the applause and attention have stopped.

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The people I talked to about 100 essential workers in a million different Industries and their main concern was that the public Applause and adulation and respect was never translating into some real material benefit. And so they felt both happy that for once essential workers had always been there. they were always around. they're still around. We just gave them a new name for a couple years. and during that time a lot of them were proud of that you know the adage or that name. but you know really there was a moment of cognitive dissonance when it did not really amount to any sort of real significant transformation in their lives. we're called Heroes and then they were left to die. yeah exactly. So the hero worship thing was pretty interesting. The book starts in New York where I talk to nurses who are walking into their Hospital while Applause is happening knowing full well that like you know members of the public if the government is not doing what it has to do to keep cases down. and there is a real tension there between that sort of respect and that you know on the one hand then LA or sort of celebrity status but then lack of real respect. you know Heroes superheroes by definition don't need protection. They don't need government programs to help them out. they don't need a better boss, they definitely don't need a union. They just Rise Above The Fray. right and so and so in naming people Heroes I think we sort of undermined the necessity to really do right by them.