There seems to be a big gulf of knowledge between both parties to this debate, about what should happen during a flight given the circumstances of this incident. Everyone down to the cat and dog seems to have an opinion about what should and shouldn't have happened. In this respect, aviation is a victim of its own success, where everyone seems to know something or the other about airline flying and what pilots do, but not necessarily very much. Of course it would be impossible to educate everyone to a level whereby they would always understand and therefore sadly I think these misunderstandings will keep recurring.
At the end of the day everyone got home safely and lived to fly/fight another day!