I understand where you're coming from hornet and partly agree, but I do believe that non-comm pilots, and even non-pilots, can and should judge to some extent. But but but, it requires a high level of discriminatory thinking and the application of a highly developed and sophisticated imagination - to allow meaningful comparison between a pilot's actions to those of some other professional that you know a lot more about. Not easy, since if you aren't a comm pilot how do you know how good the comparison is with your own Gold Standard as it were?
As an IR pilot who interacts with you guys getting vectors to the localizer etc etc (and tries not to cause you a second's anxiety on the radio as I get given a 360 to let you come on through) and listens to channel 9 whenever possible, I see/hear/understand a fair bit about your working lives but obviously don't see anything like the full operation picture, with proper personal context. I try because I care about the industry (Pan Am connections back to the 50s) and I greatly respect what you do and how you got to where you are. I know I get it wrong to some extent but maybe not as much as others on the outside who judge.
People are very judgmental about my own industry (drug discovery/development), most people don't have a blasted clue what really happens in Pharma - the various pressures that exist and make people do what they do. And the accidents that can happen totally unintentionally, that involve very good, highly educated and dedicated people doing their best in a collapsing industry. There are b*s***ds in the industry and the sooner we get rid of them the better but the great majority are not. I don't think people should not judge our industry at all, they certainly have a big stake in what we do as they do in what you do, but I give them credence only to the extent that they demonstrate a high level of understanding of a very complex situation in an unfamiliar environment. I'm sorry but the earlier poster completely failed to do that IMHO which is why I chimed in as I did. 'Nough said.