My best guess is that the natural state of human beings is to celebrate when calamity befalls their enemy. Western cultures are unique in two ways. Firstly, they reserve viceral murderous hatred only for internal political enemies (Republican vs. Democrat). Secondly, it is incredibly crass to publicly celebrate the deaths of others, unless it’s someone as hated as Bin Laden or Thatcher. So people try to project a public image of being sad when someone they hate dies.
Basically, imagine if the average Chinese hated America as much as the average British leftist hates Thatcher and had zero reservations about displaying it, since no one they know would care.
My best guess is that the natural state of human beings is to celebrate when calamity befalls their enemy. Western cultures are unique in two ways. Firstly, they reserve viceral murderous hatred only for internal political enemies (Republican vs. Democrat). Secondly, it is incredibly crass to publicly celebrate the deaths of others, unless it’s someone as hated as Bin Laden or Thatcher. So people try to project a public image of being sad when someone they hate dies.
Basically, imagine if the average Chinese hated America as much as the average British leftist hates Thatcher and had zero reservations about displaying it, since no one they know would care.