bear, one may make some criticisms of various members of, and actions of, the flight crew without precluding criticisms of the others whose contributions to this event, via their roles, actions, and inactions were prelude to that dark and stormy night.
Let's not raise a false dichotomy.
I estimate that the key to your objection is the way that cause factors are communicated.
The vague term of "pilot error" has so much currency, and so dubious a meaning, that it can be misleading or be no more than a fig leaf.