In the TV show “Ted Lasso,” one line cuts through the noise like a clean radio transmission: “Be curious, not judgmental.” It’s simple. It’s disarming. And it’s exactly what the fire service needs to hear when it comes to how we behave on social media.
Scroll through almost any firefighter-related post — whether training photos, fireground videos or general commentary about station life — and you will find a familiar chorus in the comments: “That hose load is wrong.” “Why isn’t he on air?” “Chinstrap is not buckled.” “OSHA would love this.” Sometimes the critiques are technically correct. Regardless, they are often delivered without grace or good intent.
The problem isn’t that firefighters notice risk. That’s literally our job. The problem is how quickly curiosity gets replaced by judgment, not to mention how public, performative and petty that judgment has become online.
Social media megaphone
Firefighters have always critiqued each other. Kitchens, tailboards and training grounds have long hosted debates about tactics, tools and traditions. But those conversations used to happen among people who knew each other, shared context and could read the room.
Social media erased that context. Now we critique strangers, departments we’ve never worked for, incidents we didn’t command and moments clipped down to 12 seconds of video. And we do it publicly, for likes, applause and the quiet satisfaction of proving we know better.
That’s not professionalism. That’s ego dressed up as safety.
Judgment feels productive, but rarely is
Calling out what’s wrong in a comment section feels like a contribution. It feels like leadership. Sometimes it even feels like mentorship. Most of the time, it’s none of those things.
Judgment shuts down learning. It hardens positions. It turns nuanced operational decisions into binary right-or-wrong arguments. Worse, it teaches younger firefighters that the goal is not understanding the why, but winning the comment thread.
Ted Lasso’s point wasn’t that standards don’t matter. It was that curiosity opens doors that judgment slams shut. If the goal is actually to improve safety and performance, curiosity is the better tool.
What curiosity looks like online
Being curious doesn’t mean ignoring bad practices or dangerous behavior. It means changing the posture of the conversation.
Judgment says:
- That’s unsafe.
- This would never fly in my department.
- Someone’s going to get killed doing that.
Curiosity asks:
- What was the context here?
- What constraints might they be working under?
- What was the objective of this evolution or tactic?
One invites dialogue. The other invites defensiveness.
Curiosity acknowledges that a single photo or clip is not the whole incident. It recognizes differences in staffing, resources, SOPs, building construction and more. It leaves room for the possibility that you do not have all the information and that is not a weakness.
The cost of petty policing
When firefighters turn social media into a nonstop inspection tour, there are real consequences.
Departments stop sharing training wins because they don’t want the noise. Younger members become afraid to ask questions publicly. Innovation gets mocked before it’s understood. And the public, who already struggles to understand what we do, sees a profession more interested in tearing itself apart than lifting itself up.
We talk a lot about culture in the fire service. Culture isn’t just how you act on shift. It’s how you represent the job when the uniform is off and the keyboard is on.
Accountability without arrogance
None of this is an argument for silence. There are times when dangerous practices need to be challenged. There are moments when misinformation should be corrected. But accountability doesn’t require condescension.
A private message is often more effective than a public pile-on. A question is more powerful than a declaration. And humility goes a long way in a profession that prides itself on brotherhood and sisterhood.
Before hitting “post,” it’s worth asking:
- Am I trying to help or to be seen?
- Do I actually know enough about this situation to comment?
- Would I say this the same way if we were standing in the bay together?
Curiosity is a leadership skill
Ted Lasso wasn’t talking about soccer. He was talking about people. And leadership in the fire service, formal or informal, shows up everywhere, including online.
Leaders model behavior. When senior firefighters choose curiosity over judgment, others follow. When they explain instead of ridicule, they create space for growth. When they resist the urge to score points, they reinforce that the mission is bigger than individual ego.
The fire service already has enough risk. Enough stress. Enough division. We do not need to manufacture more by turning every social media post into a critique session.
Be curious
“Be curious, not judgmental” doesn’t lower standards. It raises the quality of the conversation.
If we want safer firefighters, stronger departments and a profession that actually learns from itself, we should spend less time pointing out everything wrong — and more time asking thoughtful questions.
Curiosity builds bridges. Judgment burns them.
