Thaat they are now trained in all sorts of ways to help prevent and to fight back (even psychologically) against TERRORISTS???
Do not knock these people's job. Being your cuddly pillow-bringer or waitress is the LEAST of their duties and the ones I know take their most important duty, KEEPING YOUR BUTT SAFE, very seriously.
In that rare instance when a plane makes it to a normal landing on fire, or catches fire on the ground, the slides deploy and the stews' training comes into play. What percentage of incidents are these?
Face it, most people die when there's a serious problem. Sometimes they don't, but the odds are they do. And insulting our intelligence by explaining seatbelts every damn time (thanks to our Big Stupid Government, which probably hasn't figured out seatbelts yet) doesn't help their image.
And statistically (my statistics - MINE, ALL MINE!), they're across the board uglier. Sorry; I flew PSA when they had hotpants, so have a basis for comparison.
I can do that and I have no special training. Just feed me a couple of bean burritos the night before ....