Well said Remoak.
Half of these replies must be music to the ears of mol and co. They must be thinking that, not only are we trying to turn them into bus drivers, with attendant T&Cs, but they're willing, in the name of "coolness" it seems, to discard as many identifiers of authority and respect as possible. Remember the cause and effect gentlemen. If you're perceived to have less and less authority and professionalism, it makes his job easier to justify ever less money and the removing of authority (but not responsibility) from the crew.
As was well pointed out, the public know nothing of your flying ability, they judge you purely from what they see.
I understand some of this anti-unform "rebellion" is a form of "**** the company", and while I fully subscribe to almost any and every potshot to be had at many companies, I submit that using the uniform as a form of protest is to miss the target altogether.