Or rationally, don't change a damn thing. Airliners are fine. Any other form of transportation (maybe with the exception of trains) is many times more deadly and we cope with that risk just fine.
Not really. The hard part is knowing when to use such a system. In most of the catastrophic crashes I've heard about no one knew they were in danger till they were dead.
> to satisfy the bloodlust of news corps
That's not what it's for, that's horrible thinking. It's for determining what happened so we can prevent it from happening again!
> Any other form of transportation (maybe with the exception of trains) is many times more deadly and we cope with that risk just fine.
Because of those same data recorders you denigrate! And now that we've reached a plateau of sorts, it's time to move to the next level.
Ejection Seats are deadly/extremely dangerous if the person in them is not properly trained. Body position when the seat fires can make the difference between minor scratches and death.