Sunday, February 19, 2012

Weighing In On Whitney

Like many people, I was actually a little saddened when I heard about the loss of Whitney Houston, not because I was a huge fan, but because I felt it was a shame that another talent (and she was talented regardless of whether you liked her music or not) had fallen to drug addiction. It really is a shame.

So I thought, okay, we'll get a day of nonstop Whitney coverage with speculation of what happened and how. And I tolerated Day Two of "Whitney Still Dead" news analysis. But I thought it was a little much when I came across "Breaking News" while channel surfing Monday night, with live helicopter coverage of the convoy of vehicles transporting Houston's body from Teterboro Airport to Newark, New Jersey.

And then Jabba the Governor decides to fly flags at half-staff in New Jersey in her honor. Seriously? Was Whitney Houston a former President of the US and I hadn't noticed? Is being known as the "Queen of Pop" considered official royalty in this country and worthy of that honor?

If someone had mentioned Whitney Houston the day before her death, you'd mostly likely think of her as a joke. They'd call her a crack addict, an alcoholic, someone who'd destroyed herself, someone who succumbed to her demons. Those woulds were self-inflicted, yet somehow it seems all of that was forgotten in lieu of some feel good, she-was-so-great story. Yes, what happened was sad and tragic. But can we keep things in perspective?

1 comment:

NowhereMan said...

you've been watching too much Billo.Yet,she got the same kind of treatment that Michael Jackson got when he died.I asked somebody we both know who is an addict how he felt about her death.He mentioned while Gary Carter was a tragedy because he died of cancer,Whitney should not be pittyed because she knew the risk involved just as he knows if he dies of an overdose he has nobody to blame but himself.

 
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