j3, not sure why you thought that was an insult, I am genuinely concerned about a fellow aviator and in no way wanted to have this understood as a personal attack. If indeed it should have come across that way I apologise unreservedly!
I think we all have a collective responsibility, no matter what our position, seniority, or level of experience, to make the skies the safest place we can.
Would I speak up in a similar way (of course trying my best not to be insulting or putting anyone down, especially in front of others) if I worked with someone who I thought had a lack of understanding in some area that could compromise his ability to react correctly in an emergency? Absolutely. Do I think that anyone just shutting up about or otherwise ignoring a safety related matter should have their head examined? You bet! Remember, that someone could be compromising your own safety down the road, and you might just close that particular hole in the cheese by having a chat..
Tony Kern put this very succinctly in the CASA Error Management Roadshow that is currently going through the country, and one of the videos he used sticks in my mind: The very touching story of the wife of the B52 Fairchild crash co-pilot Mark McGeehan recounting how her husband had tried to convince his superiors that captain Holland was being unsafe in his flying of the B52. The investigation into Holland's flying was underway at the time of the crash, and the co-pilot was so concerned that he had ordered members of his team not to fly with this captain, and had taken it upon himself to be in the RHS, and on that fateful day McGeehan's wife and his young sons watched in horror as Holland stalled the machine in a steep turn close to the ground, killing all on board. Nuff said!