> It’s also very insulting to imply that all some group of people is likely doing all day is throwing heaps of coal into a furnace.
Indeed. Not to mention that no one has been doing that for a very long time. That's not what coal miners, nor has it ever been what coal miners do.
A guy who shovels coal into a furnace was called a "stoker", and that unskilled labor job was automated out of existence about a hundred years ago.
A coal miner is a skilled laborer who (nowadays) uses advanced machinery and technology. Look into how "longwall mining" works. It's pretty cool.