While I wrote Bestiarii more as a reply to the criticism "car racing is only interesting because of the wrecks", I think it also says a lot about why we are reacting to the Columbia tradgedy this way, why it is hurtful and disappointing on such a deep level. An excerpt:

What you're looking at when you see a race car crash and the driver walk away is not some garish orgy of blood and destruction narrowly avoided. It is a symbolic demonstration of our mastery over machines, the beasts of our modern era. The drivers are our bestiarii.

...

At the moment of impact in a race crash, on a basic, almost subconscious level, you are watching a wild animal attempting to kill a human being. The bestiarii has lost control, and the panther is leaping at his throat ... It is only when the driver exits the car, or rather what is left of it, and waves to the crowd that celebrations begin. At that point we all know the beast's attempt to kill the human has only resulted in its own destruction, something well worth celebrating.

...

Injury and death are never celebrated. The beast has won then, has proven to be our master. It is only when the mainstream "popular" media get their hands on something like this that it turns into a circus, because to the mainstream media nothing sells advertising quite as well as spectacular death. To them it's coincidental that it happened at a race.

The beast killed the bestiarii this time, and the media circus has already started. It's up to us to rise to the occasion and prove no machine will be our master.