People want to express outrage. That’s understandable.
Most flight revenue is from frequent travellers, and they understand the business enough to know histrionics won’t change Boeing’s incumbency. A couple people who fly twice a year swapping airlines isn’t going to move the needle. And I doubt a material fraction of them are likely voters who would bother their electeds about this.
You seem to entirely miss the possibility that this has nothing to do with "punishing" anyone, and that people simply don't want to stress out about dying during their flight.
You can call it irrational if you like, that feeling of superiority and a few bucks will get you a snack. The brain worm is there, I know I'll be thinking about it next time I book tickets.
Sure, and as I point out elsewhere, that's reasonable [1]. It's irrational because it doesn't actually change anything, about your situation or systematically.
Not flying a 737 Max to feel better is reasonable. Doing it to be safer, or because it's going to punish Boeing or whatever, is not.