After working on a big entertainment time waster social site all week (not so much a crud app) I spent all today running first aid at special Olympics which I think provided value which the crud app let me do. Does that count?

Yes. Just as much as a farmer planting a seed. I save a lot of time thanks to crud apps.

I'm not saying that most devs are helping the world anyhow. But I'm saying that those guys are not either. So we should not be "celebrating their success" as though they did something extraordinary

They just sell shit. Why should we rejoice because they do it efficiently?