Despite having strong opinions, I have always struggled to challenge authorities or people who present themselves as authorities. Because I always have this self-doubt that's like "What if they DO know what they're talking about?". I think that the script and Michelle Williams do an amazing job of showing the dual horror of following a "corrupt" authority versus deciding to take a risk and put yourself in conflict with that authority. The emotional roller coaster of this movie resonated incredibly strongly with me.
I used to rarely find myself able to correct 'authorities' when I felt they are quite clearly wrong, mostly because I start getting horribly embarassed for them when it becomes more and more obvious how important being right is to them. It becomes clear how catastrophic it might be for their egos if you start dismantling what they just said as being wrong or, sometimes, just plain stupid.
That is until I worked at a place that constantly tried to bury me and my employees in bull**** criticisms. I'd sit there quietly listening to them, realizing all of the obnoxious holes in their reasoning while everyone was absorbing their gaslighting and abuse and lies. Sometimes, on a bad day, I'd even start to wonder if maybe they were right, and we were all terrible and we didn't deserve to have a voice. An anxiety that ultimately landed me in therapy because it caused me so much brain trouble over the years. But then, one day I just snapped. I cut my bosses off at the legs. This torrent of rebuttals just wouldn't stop pouring out of my mouth. And they were all on point. I was on my A game. It was beautiful. I received many secret thank you's at the end of that meeting, and I'm usually not humbled by gratitude, but I was that day.
As expected, they were embarrassed to be called out so thoroughly. And they were also furious that I dared to speak back after so many years of being completely compliant. I'm sure they hated me from that point on. But then I realized the undeniably beauty of not giving a ****. I just didn't care anymore. And so kept doing it to them, at any meeting they tried to pull it. And it was glorious watching them unable to land a single punch against us. To discard everything they said with a laughing shrug and a little bit of debating 101 like it was a particularly egregious post by The Reaper.
Unfortunately, l find myself unable to do it anywhere else though. Just at that one particular job. I think the distinction is I have to truly hate people to call them on their bull**** in person. Like really really really hate them. And it also helps when they are astonishingly stupid.