In many areas of life I've found that culturally we have been trained to view anyone who sticks out as being childish regardless of the merit of their grievances. For example, if someone lies to me and signs me up for a contract I did not agree to (such as adding on extras that I didn't agree) and I react negatively, I'm seen as childish and they are seen as doing their job, even though they committed fraud. Demanding to see a contract and read it before I sign it is seen as being a disruption (because they lose business for an hour while I read the contract). I once refused to sign a statement saying a work order had been fulfilled because of wording saying that signing the work order as having been done counted as signing some other documents. I was viewed as the bad guy in the social situation because the serviceman would not be paid for the work (since I didn't sign the work order) even though it was their company who made it so that signing for the work order being complete also signed other legal documents I didn't want to agree to. I looked the part of the asshole, not the company.
The tin foil hat wearer in me wonders if our society has been pushed in this direction on purpose as it benefits faceless corporations.
T: "everyone sit down now, please"
P: "my chair has wet paint on it Sir, do I have to sit down too?"
Should the teacher say "always do as I say first time" next or should they acknowledge they were operating on imperfect knowledge of the situation and modify the command? This is only slightly contrived, some pupils will sit in the paint through fear of the teacher (some, occasionally, through over-bearing desire to please the teacher).
Always allowing a command to be questioned develops critical thinking and encourages creativity whilst demanding pupils use good communications. It's harder to handle with a group, for sure, but worth it IMO.
Questioning a command in order to get a reason for complying does not equate to "not doing what an accountable adult says". "Because I say so" should be the last fallback, not the first and only reason available.
It requires humility. Being corrected by a 7yo, say, in front of a group can feel humiliating; but it's more important to do what is right than it is to instill a misplaced sense of obedience as being the highest virtue.
This allows for the fallibility of the accountable adult and respects - and develops - the faculty of the child(ren).
Americans. Seriously, authoritarianism is so deeply ingrained in American culture (right now?) that for any abuse of authority, no matter how petty, most people will argue that the problem is not the authority figure, but the person who decided not to comply with authority. I don't know exactly how this happened. But it's not just the airline industry.
These posts are often at great length, and laden with appeals to authority. Some might be trolls. But others appear to be by people who genuinely value an environment where the lowliest airline employee, no matter how poor their judgement, no matter how absent their discretion, is more right than any customer. Munoz's email to employees, of which I've not seen a retraction, takes this line wholeheartedly. It's a trait that suffuses the industry. Who the hell ARE these people?