By using the lowest common denominator argument nobody could ever complain about their circumstances as long as there are rug weavers in india earning 1 dollar per day.
Flight crew have special circumstances both in training before they get a job and after when they work and should be paid accordingly, yet the trend is a downward slope.
Primarily as a group we get shafted by first timers who have some sort of "dream" to fly airplanes for a living and so will accept any BS to get the chance to do so. Then we have the spineless oldies who accept reductions because they can't be arsed to fight for their right for fear of getting fired and ending up commuting from the middle of nowhere. It's not as if there are jobs all over the place if you get laid off as a pilot, usually you can consider yourself lucky if you can stay in the same country.
But I think you illustrate effectively that the "man on the street" as it were will never have an understanding of flight crew circumstances and will forever consider us collectively to be overpaid primadonnas with 30 hr work weeks and porsches in their garages. Public support for pilot issues when it comes to terms and conditions will never exist, proven in part by the fact that nobody who travels these days seem to think that it should come with a price for the ticket.