Unfortunately, today's business culture has little regard for honest human emotions. Employees are supposed to stay upbeat, positive, and not make negative remarks. This is a nice goal to shoot for, but next to impossible. Employees should be able to feel free to express negativity as well. You can't deal with a problem if it's not allowed to emerge.
Good managers ask their employees about their negative feelings.
It is very common during times of change to let yourself and others be easily abused. When there has been a firing in a department, there is a normal tendency to wonder if you will be next. This fear can keep you from speaking up when unreasonable demands are made upon you. Anxiety spreads through the department and support from coworkers are difficult to obtain. And shame on managers that use this for a power play.