Multiple things can be true at the same time. While this is a tragedy, and we should have some sympathy toward the 5 lives that were cut short, and we should have some compassion for the family members & friends of those who died... we should also realize that emotional currency is not an infinite resource; most of us living in the wealthiest parts of the world give nothing more than a passing thought toward other events which have caused orders of magnitude more death and human suffering than one incredibly reckless, ill-advised trip to the bottom of the Atlantic in an inadequate vessel.
How many people paid more attention to this than the Ukrainian soldiers who either died or got seriously injured that same day protecting their country from a psychopathic invasion? Probably a lot.
How many people paid more attention to this than the migrant workers who either died, got seriously injured, or were forced to endure horrific working conditions, as they prepared Qatar for the 2022 World Cup? I'm guessing probably a lot.
How many people paid more attention to this than the 25,000 people worldwide who died of hunger on that same day? I'm guessing probably a lot.
How many people paid more attention to this than the 25,000+ people worldwide who died of cancer on that same day? I'm guessing probably a lot.
Point is, I do think that a lot of people have priorities that are... how shall we say it... unwise. They lack perspective, and spend their emotional currency in rather ignorant ways. They'll douse Damar Hamlin or the Humboldt crash victims with tens of millions of dollars in donations, then turn around and vote for politicians that set the lowest possible tax rates, weakest worker, consumer, and environmental protections, and most isolationist foreign policies... because to them, hey, no one deserves any empathy or compassion except for the victims of carefully selected events.
But anyways, I digress...
Then there's the question of how wealthy these 5 people were and how some people are responding to it. Here's my take on the whole wealth component of this story:
Is being rich, in & of itself, a reprehensible trait? No.
Are there people out there who see being rich as a reprehensible trait, and celebrate any time a rich person dies? Yes. Am I one of these people? No.
Can affluence potentially be a corrupting influence on a person's worldview and cause the person to develop antisocial tendencies? Yes. Does it have that effect on every person who becomes rich? No. Does it have that effect on many rich, influential people, and is therefore causing problems for society? Yes.
So is the wealth these people had a valid reason to celebrate their deaths? Of course not. However, their level of privilege afforded them all kinds of opportunities to analyze the type of decision they were about to make, and to gather the information they needed to make an informed decision. They chose to completely ignore these opportunities, which is what makes this situation all the more baffling.
( TLDR: ) In conclusion, my take on this situation is that a very priveldged group of people made an extremely reckless decision, and paid the ultimate price for it. I felt a small amount of sadness for a very brief time, for them and their family members, and quite honestly that's all that's warranted in this case.
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