EJ seem to be relaxed about automatics off at appropriate times from what I hear
Nice to know. Although I was told by an Emirates pilot he decided to turn off his flight director for a climb in CAVOK weather. He was pinged by the QAR and severely castigated by management for deliberately turning off the FD. That would suggest Emirates are not that relaxed at all.
But my impression is definitively that we have turned the tide and the message is coming through.
I wish I shared your optimism, but from my experience the message might be on Pprune but will never fully reach the real world of airline flying.