Were you bullied by dinosaur QHIs early in your flying career?
No, I never flew with a QHI.
But anyway, perhaps you can't see the point, I suppose it is a bit subtle. Perhaps I can explain it better like this:
And for clarity I'm not talking about manual skills where only manual skills are appropriate eg offshore deck landings, winching etc, but such things as instrument approaches.
Your way of thinking seems to be that the most important thing is the manual flying skills to, say, fly an ILS and you expect them to be able to do it to a high standard. If you can do it using the automation that is a bonus, but not a core skill.
For me the most important thing is to be able to use the aircraft's equipment optimally to have it fly the approach whilst you sit back and see the big picture. In the highly unlikely event that you have to fly a manual ILS, that is a backup skill that you have to be able to get by with. So for me, most of the time and effort should be spent on the former, and it should demonstrated to a high standard. For the latter you just have to survive.
I'd liken it to a heli designer who spent a huge amount if time, effort and money on the standby instruments, whilst not really caring if the main instruments were pretty crappy. I think we'd both agree that was a bad approach to design.
Oh and as for feelings of superiority, I'm a retired old codger who lost his medical, you are the (relatively) young hope for the future, with all the power. That's why I'm trying to move you out of the 1980s!