Apparently 500 posts is the limit, so I couldn't post to the previous thread anymore. Therefore I started another thread and changed the name as previously discussed, to also include people who aren't actors.
And you are perfect? Your own reaction was extreme as well, btw (more so in fact since it was longer term than a few minutes...).
It wasn't a great thing for Bale to do, obviously, even if the recipient deserved it, but how about some perspective? I mean... if other people felt the same way (and even you think Hurlbut deserved it), you can't respect a man who once lost his temper with a guy who "had it coming" - and even while doing so told that guy he's "a nice guy", so it really was just about doing the damned job, not personal. And then apologized to everyone, because he regretted it and felt bad about it. (I'm talking about on set at the time, not following year with that tape and media and internet response to it.) He knew himself he was out of line. Again: I also think he was, even if the scolding was deserved.
So: it certainly was a mistake on Bale's part (everyone makes those, even if different kinds), but a minor one in my view considering the context, circumstances and also his own regret and apology over it. I just can't understand how anyone (who wasn't even personally involved or offended) can think it was something so horrible and serious that it can't be forgiven and put aside.
If an incident like that was a regular occurrence then I'd understand a bit better (I'd understand the temper problem claim, but still wouldn't understand losing all respect over it). But clearly it isn't; there were specific circumstances and a specific person of whom others felt similarly and who apparently needed it. It should have been the director's job, but he wasn't doing anything, though Bale even asked him to. According to crew members Bale didn't have problems with anyone else on the set and he was well liked. And that seems to be the situation on other movie sets as well - see Wittrock's comment for an example, there are plenty others as well, and a notable lack of available complaints about Bale from a 30-year career. So...
You're actually doing exactly what Wittrock and Poland say (and others before have said): take one moment in time out of context without fully understanding it, and proceed to judge unfairly and therefore too harshly. I'm genuinely surprised by this since you aren't even looking at it the way many people are (that a big bad spoiled star abused an innocent, anonymous little crew member out of the blue and for no reason at all, the poor guy who was only trying to do his job... Most people have no clue who the guy was and what his job title was). And you also hear interviews like the one above and others and it makes no difference? It's incomprehensible to me, but oh well. If the above was your "why" then so be it, I just don't get the logic.