"no one has a sense of humor about it."

Maybe because there's too great a sense of overwhelming despondency....????

Normally I'm an 'if you don't laugh you'll cry kinda guy'
much to a lot of mudcatters annoyance.

But when it comes to precious valuable cultural heritage archives
such as movies and music and literature etc
being lost permanently
because of petty business disputes, stubborn bitter stupidity, and short term profiting asset stripping...

It's bad enough all the mass of early movies & sound recordings gone forever
because of inadequate fire-trap storage conditions
and short sighted willful destruction to clear space for new product..

Many would without doubt still be contenders for nicely profitable re-release.

Most others would surely still merit preservation in public digital 'museums' ???
[yes we know it's a complex minfield of rights & funding - but new technologies...]

You'd hope rights owners might have learnt from past unintelligent mistakes
and show some sense before it is all too late.

Even if only in their own potential financial self interest.