I'm not trying to diminish what a box cutter can do. I darned near cut of my finger a couple of years ago with an exacto knife. But, its that numbers thing, 30- 220 passengers against a guy or a few guys with box cutters is ridiculous.
In theory, yes.
But in reality, most people will probably just sit there since that is what they have been conditioned to do, thanks to the feminization of America. People are taught to "not take the law into their own hands", "call 911", "wait for the police", and "violence is bad"
The sudden and grotesque acts of violence committed by terrorists will paralyze most people, if they do not have a warrior mentality. By "warrior mentality", I mean being alert, aware of surroundings, calm under pressure, and mentally prepared beforehand to take violently aggressive action against the terrorists.
This irrational fear of inanimate objects like box cutters and fingernail clippers are indicitive of the fact that most Americans still lack the warrior mentality.
Of course, laws against Americans defending themselves don't help the matter at all.
So, yes, for the most part we are a nation of wimps.