I am sorry you got stuck like this. I have seen things like this before. Most people are only too happy to say how much they dislike their boss or job or even pastor or things about them when they are just talking among themselves. But just bring in the actual person and they suddenly all fall silent. Trust what people actually do, not what they say they will do. If they have never spoken up in the face of authority before, they won’t do it later no matter what they say. On the good side, you showed just who actually has the guts and who is a wimp. On the bad side, you got fired.

I guess they were all smarter than you. Their fear was not irrational. Do you really want to work in a place ruled by terror? Everyone knows the conditions are terrible, yet everyone is paralyzed by fear, except the crazy one: you.