With all due respect to you Peter, you are giving but one limited, medieval defintion of a dramatic tragedy, like Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. Also falling within the definition of a dramatic tragedy is a conflict between protagonist(s) and a superior force such as destiny, circumstance, society, which comes to a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion, which can (though not always) result in a cathartic cleansing of emotion, as Aristotle described in his descriptions of the effects of Greek tragedy.

Although it isn't the primary definition of catharsis, there is a more contemporary meaning of the word catharsis, which describes a process of bringing repressed ideas and feelings into consciousness.

The latter definition, in the context of a dramatic tragedy, was what I was making reference to in my posts about this event. My immediate reaction to it was as a dramatic national tragedy for the US, and international tragedy, because of the death of the Israeli astronaut, and the accident occurring (roughly, in initial reports) in the proximity of Palestine, Texas.

The claims that this space shuttle mission wasn't political are preposterous. I mean c'mon, does anyone REALLY think it was just a coincidence that the international astronaut chosen for this mission was an Israeli, considering the propaganda campaign the Texas Cowboy has undertaken to prop up Israel's and the US' interests in the Middle East?