That's such a male thing to say
It's almost certainly derived from "death before dishonor", a U.S. Marine Corps slogan since the XIX century. Maybe not a direct derivation—"death before dishonor" is in everything from the names of metal bands to video games now—but, ultimately, that's where it's from. And, yeah, few things are more male than the Marine Corps.
True, but, I can't easily twist my mind into imagining a US armed forces veteran adding the tankie hammer and sickle.
My immediate thought is “and nothing of value was lost”.
Yeah, the thing that makes me sad (per flair) is more to do with wasted potential to do real things.
I.e. the fact that there are young ppl out there who are this desperate to find a cause / a hill to die on—and who have this much restless energy to put towards said cause—and of all fucking things they've decided to pick THIS.
That's such a male thing to say. And, really, fewer males in the world is always a good thing.