Jeremy Stangroom

Not for me it's not. I don't find it surprising we react to the deaths of people we don't know.. We react to death of characters in novels!

Yes but that's because the novel is designed specifically to make us personally relate to its characters.

On the other end of the spectrum are beneficial deaths like Hitler's or Stalin's. But more relevant, how did you react to Pol Pot's death?

I remember feeling somewhat sad/angry that Pol Pot was able to die free, in old age, and of natural causes.

That's a stronger reaction than the ephemeral joy at reading about a disliked person's death.

Another example: disappointed that Milošević died before he could be convicted of war crimes. Also a stronger reaction.

Compared to those reactions (which I believe are very normal), the fleeting verbal "grave dancing" seems rather trivial.

And you can say that those reactions, even if normal, are morally problematic, but what if the edifice of morality stands on such feelings?