The way the CC can win is to have a sensibly policy that is applied consistently and explained to pax. On the many long haul flight I have been on I have never heard an explanation, and application is inconsistent.
Personally, on a long-haul night flight, I'm waiting for the cabin lights to be off and everyone to settle down. It's right that the blinds be shut in that situation to allow maximum time for sleeping. But on a day flight (e.g. BA NRT to LHR, departs around noon Japan time, arrives around 3pm London time), why should the blinds be shut? Sometimes the CC go around shutting the blinds, sometimes they don't. Some people sleep for some or all of the flight, some don't. That's a day flight, pax can entertain themselves by reading a book or watching IFE. Personally, if I slept during that flight, it would make the jetlag even worse. Of course, everyone is different, and you have to allow for peoples' body clocks to be in different time zones, but anyone who wants to sleep on a day flight can wear an eye mask while the rest of us try to algin our body clocks with our destination.
Having said that, if I'm clearly the only one with the blind open, I'll shut it. And if another pax asked me to shut the blind so they could sleep, I would.