Amadius. I could only find one reference in the FCOM, in the pre flight set up it does actually say to turn them on and set them to 1 o'clock. But that is the only reference I could find.
No they did not show me any reference to support their position.
Hotel C. You really don't like SOP's do you. No SOP can replace airmanship but the SOP's are the fruit of decades of trial and error. They can't be perfect but sticking closely to them most of the time makes flying safer and much easier for all, especially the poor old FO's. (I did 10,000 hrs in the right seat so I believe I'm entitled to offer an opinion there.) We really should embrace the SOP culture with humility, work within the system not outside it, if we think an SOP is wrong seek to have it changed not simply ignore it etc.
The important thing is to seek to constantly learn from others and one way we do that is by learning to follow SOP's (most of the time) as they are full of the contributions of others over many years.
So let go of your anger my son, come into the light, let go of your hate, the dark side leads to pain, Luke, I am your father :-o