emotional attachment is especially relevant to this situation since empathy is the most important thing that airbnb can provide right now. The fact that empathy is FREE and they are not giving it to EJ just baffles me!

You seem to be confusing what the term "relevent" means re: down-voting. (or perhaps just want down-voting is for)

down-voting is a community moderation tool, to be used on comments that are off-topic, trolling, spam, etc.

The article in question is about AirBnB's repsonse to the situation (or rather, about EJ's comments about their response to the situation). The comment you down voted is making a point about a possible reason they may be acting that way.

It's a direct and thoughtful response to the topic at hand, it's ipso facto "relevent" in the sense that matters re: down-voting.

The fact that you disagree with it, or think it is flawed is not a valid reason for down-voting; instead you would reply refuting their point. You seem to think that their comment is not "relevent" re: how one considers their actions...and that may be true...but that is not a valid reason to downvote and not the sort of relevance that matters re that.

I only bring this up because many people seem to be confused about down-voting, or abuse the system and I think it's helpful to have a dialog on it occasionally.

So ... I don't believe that level of emotional attachment is well understood by people who don't have their own business. There's criticism - in this thread and elsewhere - of how Airbnb have handled this whole situation, especially some of the information in the OP. I think there would be less criticism if more people understood the emotions of being a business owner - emotions lead us to do non-rational things.

Edit: To add how good it was to see someone explain a downvote, so we could continue a discussion.