Insane exaggeration? So you are suggesting that conversation in the chocks in preparation for a flight is irrelevant to flight safety? An interesting theory, I hope your employers are aware of your attitude. By implication you are defending the behavior of our two heroes on that night takeoff attempt (wrong runway). IIRC one of them fired up the wrong bird at first. I'd love to see the bit of videotape showing his reaction when he was told by ground staff that he was in the wrong plane - the tapes would start as soon as your a** was putting pressure on the seat btw.
OK, so not ALL professionals pilots are the sharpest knives in the drawer, but I would hope that many can see the safety advantages of continuous cockpit recordings, audio and video, as a tool to more thoroughly investigate accidents after the fact as well as near-accidents and major deviations revealed by data we already have. Not to mention to randomly sample pilots, the vast majority of whom I'm confident are doing a splendid and highly professional job. To criticize this as a "violation of privacy rights" or some such rubbish reveals much about the mentality behind that particular yoke.
I've only ever had responsibility for three passengers' lives as a pilot but I can tell you that I'd never behave in the manner that certain pilots appear to be comfortable with in preparing for an ILS approach. I tell my pax to STFU if I need to, perhaps a few of you guys need to learn to do the same with your colleagues up front.
This is an excellent thread, revealing as it does the opinions of some. Naturally one wonders how many others.