If true, there has been a collective or unconcious downgrading of training... isn't a 'What if?' thinking process, instilled at about day one?
.. and then reinforced at every step thereafter?
it would hurt your head for a pilot to work out the correct measure of "what ifs" relative to an MEL.
A team of experts should have already worked these out and had them validated by the regulator. That's not to say that they got them all right, as there is always something to be learned in the in-service data in combination with human error.
The pilot has the choice of not taking the plane, but keep your arguments simple.