Unfortunately air traffic control has been underfunded and understaffed for multiple decades at this point… It’s no surprise that our aircraft are falling out of the sky now that Trump gutted the FAA, even if this particular tragedy was longer in the brewing.
You’re right that heads may not need to roll - but there needs to be a huge national push to train and hire new air traffic controllers, and to modernise all the ATC equipment at airports. We need to give the profession the support it’s been asking for.
I’ve been flying my whole life so I’m very comfortable with it, and even I’m unwilling to get on a plane if I don’t have to nowadays. I can only imagine the numbers of my company in that, but I doubt I’m alone, and if that attitude is spreading it’s bad news for airlines that are already struggling.
Not actually a curse from China, it was made up by since British politician in the early 1900s. I’m sure I could find something wryly amusing to say about colonialism, if I weren’t so frakking tired of the results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_you_live_in_interesting_times