Dysag -
Since you mentioned A... , I have to say that the Airbus-fanciers have been extraordinarily restrained and gentlemanly all throughout this sorry story.
If this had been an A320, the fly-by-seat-of-pants dinosaurs would have attacked like never before.
It's
NOT an Airbus vs Boeing thing: it's an automation thing where crews become dependent on it to "take care" of them without them looking after the obvious.....airspeed and altitude. It's all situational awareness and basic flying we're talking about here, not FBW vs cable or anything else.