Feb 27, 2012

Posthumous. Isn't that a dip?

Oh, Whitney, Whitney, Whitney.

I thought I was going to be able to hold my tongue and mourn in silent protest over the passing of my number one biggest role model from when I was a girl.

But the slander just keeps on rolling out. I really didn't want to see her coffin photo.
Or the crime scene photos either. But they are rammed down my throat at every turn. I couldn't even load my groceries on to the conveyor belt (with my children in tow) without seeing images of her sprawled out in the tub.

STOP THAT!

Why? Well, besides the fact that it's macabre and disturbing, it is completely fucking irrelevant.

It's the pettiness and judgmental douche bags that are making me ill. If she died quietly in her bed from a long battle with cancer, I'm sure we would be hearing an entirely different tune. It would be the Whitney Lament, not the Whitney Torment.

She's dead, mother fuckers. Let it go!

And it is nothing new. I'm not shocked in the slightest; I'm just annoyed.

I just wish people could focus on the amazing music that will live on as her legacy. That's how we remember her. It is how we SHOULD remember her. Everyone has their demons to bear, and whether it's because of their genius or because of their fame that magnifies it... it is tragic.

Michael Jackson.
Kurt Cobain.
Keith Haring.
Elvis.
Jimi Hendrix.
Karen Carpenter.
Oscar Wilde.

Imagine if Van Gogh cut his own ear off and sent it to a friend in today's "TMZ society"!
Or the fact that Gauguin likely gave a third of the native female adolescent population on Tahiti syphilis.
Or that Caravaggio was quite partial to young boys.

But time goes on. And when the paint is dry and the notes are written, that's all that is really important. All the extenuating circumstances surrounding how they lived and died are entirely inconsequential.

When they were alive, they created great art. Art that will live on long after they, and their children's children are gone.

So, to Whitney Houston, thank you for having lived, for having sung so beautifully, and for leaving us with your voice.
It was you that made me fall in love with music.

18 comments:

  1. I think this is lovely and agree with your comments. People need to mind their boundaries - other people don't belong to us and I'm still just going to sing "oh I wanna dance with somebody".. people are just being sick now. Some argue its an anti-drug message to show her coffin. That's bollocks. Its paparazzi nightmare.

    I'm eating posthumous with crackers while I read, I swear to god, its like you're watching me.

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  2. Bravo... Yes I totally agree! She was wonderful, she failed we all fail...makes us human! We lost another very talented person way too soon. Thank you for this article today.

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  3. Didn't the media used to be nice like when the kennedys were the scandal? no? It's a shame how reactive they are based on the circumstances, you are exactly right - just another reason I don't watch. Farah didn't go down like that, neither did Patrick Swayze

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  4. I agree.

    Chris Brown beating on Rhianna didn't make his music suck any more or any less than it already did.

    Oh, and RIP Whitney and all that jazz.

    (Seriously all that bullshit about her funeral, ahem...'going home party' with the invitations and the Bobby Brown and the fucking bullshit...I'm not all broken up about Whitney's death but I'm still disgusted by what the media has done with her death. Just wrong.)

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  5. Although I am not a Whitney fan I do believe she deserves privacy and to be given space and the grace to go peacefully.
    Well written my friend.

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  6. kelley (@krf0109)Monday, 27 February, 2012

    No matter how a famous person dies, it is none of our business. The family doesn't need to see the gory details all over the media as they are mourning. People need to shut up and remember that no matter how a person lives or dies, s/he had family and friends who are now hurting but need to try to go on with their lives.

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  7. Amen, love. Amen. All deaths should be given dignity. Her poor family.

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  8. Thank you!!! Between the "Cover" and Entertainment Tonight milking this out for every drop they think they can get, it's disgusting.

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  9. Nice post. Unfortunately, you're in the minority. I remember when the National Enquirer was something people were embarrassed to have in their possession. Now, NE-like stories lead most "news" broadcasts these days. Sad. Leaking photos of the open casket is just tacky.

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  10. Your footnote quite possibly made my day!! But you're totally right, it's not right that more people are focusing on how she died instead of mourning her life.

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  11. I agree that artistic accomplishment should be judged separately from the biography of the artist. Still, her biography is news worthy and instructive in showing that early death is a possible effect of long term drug abuse.

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  12. When they announced her death, initially, it was with some reference. In my mind, the countdown started on when the first snark would be launched. It didn't take long. Let's stop judging people and let's all just focus on judging the media. Ellen

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  13. I agree with Magical Mystical MiMi. As a mother, my heart goes out to Whitney's daughter. Losing a parent at such a young age is painful enough, without having to see all the hoopla the media's making it all to be. Yes, these celebrities, because of the nature of their works, were often considered as 'public property.' But to distribute her dead photos for the world to see, for the benefit of bringing in the money for the media companies... It's morbid, disrespectful and inhumane.

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  14. Well said my friend. I posted something similar after she died, and now these goddamned photos have come out. I saw the one of her open casket and almost threw up...quite literally. It was just absolutely morally reprehensible that those were published. I was disgusted beyond belief.
    Whitney was the whole reason I got into music and singing to begin with, she inspired my love of music at 13 years old and now I have to see that? Awful damned people should be ashamed.

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