I passenger a lot. I sit there in horror watching people holding up papers during the safety briefing, reading, wiping kids noses, looking out of the window etc, while the cabin crew gamely go through the full briefing pantomime. They don't even look around and clock the nearest exit! These people I would call fools, idiots, twerps. It's something that could save your life. They fulfil the definition of those words. Come the time they actually need the emergency equipment in anger, they are confused sheep! 'What do I do with the oxygen mask?' 'Do I pull it, untangle it, stand up and breath into it?' 'Where's my nearest exit?' And as for Hadow seeing to his son first? Such people shouldn't be allowed out without a helmet on with a message on it 'please take care of me because I'm a bit stupid!'.
All that's fine, but unfortunately then the way some crew in uniform behave does not exactly set a great example.
e.g. a captain of a major European airline, positioning in uniform wlkaing round the cabin with the belt signs on and serving himself a cup of coffee in the galley in full sight of the first few rows of pax.
If a captain doesn't heed the safety briefing, why should the pax?
Also, crew not enforcing the seat belt sign has a similar effect - do they really mean it?
The concept of zero tolerance, in its original NYC sense, should be applied and if that means offloading pax who don't listen, then I for one would support that, even if it delays me.
So don't blame the passenger behaviour until the airlines get their act together.