I see OP's attitude a lot on Reddit and (sadly) a few times here too. It seems common decency is a dirty word when there's political point scoring to be had. Rebranding it as "virtue signalling" is another one.
In the US I often see saying publicly “thanks” as a cheap (and cynical) alternative to actually funding things properly. So with me it leaves a bad taste if it’s not accompanied by a call for proper funding or other action to rectify things.