Being ridiculously underpaid is stressful. There is no way around that fact. It doesn't matter whether or not you understood that fact before taking a job.

Over time, that stress becomes chronic. This affects pilots' lives in many many ways, some of which we don't even understand. I believe it is reasonable to make the logical jump that one would be more capable in all aspects of one's life with less stress.

When a pilot is stressed (overworked and underpaid), that pilot might make poor decisions on occasion, like doing whatever is necessary to get those extra hours at home before the long commute to work.

Are pilots' responsible for the actions they take as professionals? Absolutely yes.

However, nothing ever happens in a vacuum. There is always a bigger picture. Lives of humans are messy and complex. There is a lot of pressure on professionals to "put up and shut up", even when reasonable objections might be in order.

People make mistakes. Every single pilot ever has made mistakes, some of them embarrassing. Rather than heaping blame on folks for being human, it is more constructive to find out ways to mitigate those mistakes in the future.

And lastly, anyone who advises anybody to "simply quit" any job in this economy is dangerously out of touch with reality. We all have the right to work to improve our working conditions.