Why Whitney Died

The media have no bleepin' clue how to cover the death of Whitney Houston. That's because she was slowly dying for years and many in the press simply averted their eyes.

It was ultra-disturbing that a beautiful woman blessed with an extraordinary singing voice chose a self-destructive path in full view of the world. I mean, here is a person who signed a $100 million recording contract, actually sold 170 million albums and commanded high six figures to deliver a 90-minute concert. Houston was a genuine international star, and yet she often was seen in public disheveled and confused, her substance addiction apparent. The media simply did not know what to say.

We live in a time in which addiction is categorized as a disease, and to do what Nancy Reagan once did and urge people to reject narcotics is considered uncool. How many young performers do we see doing public service announcements warning children to avoid intoxication? Right now, I can't think of one.

The national media pride themselves on being non-judgmental unless you are against abortion. Then you are dismissed as "anti-woman" or as a religious zealot. But in the arena of personal behavior, there's an excuse for just about every nonviolent activity and bad decision.

There is no question that some of us have a history of addiction in our families. There are folks who can use drugs casually and avoid dependence, but they are the exception. Once a person decides to dabble in cocaine, or opiates such as heroin and OxyContin, they are putting themselves at grave risk. And they know it. There are legions of famous people who wound up dead just like Houston. From Elvis Presley to Michael Jackson, the signposts are impossible to miss. No matter how rich and powerful you are, drugs can and will destroy you.

The current medical marijuana ruse is a great example of a society walking away from a responsible position. Ask any drug rehab counselor, and he or she will tell you that pot often leads a person to harder drug use and is mentally addictive itself. Yes, most people can function while stoned. But the more you alter your mind the more your perspective on life changes. Believe me, I know people who get stoned or drunk every day. They become incredibly desensitized to those around them.

On the kid front, the situation is dire. Once a child enters the world of intoxication, their childhood is gone. Presto, they are jaded. That's how dangerous drugs and alcohol are to immature minds. Society has an obligation to protect its children, not to tacitly accept or embrace mind-altering agents such as marijuana.

Houston, however, was an adult who made a decision to embrace the drug life. Reports say she tried to rehabilitate herself a few times, but you know how that goes. Once a person enters the hell of addiction, there is no easy way out.

And that's how the Whitney Houston story should be covered. As a cautionary tale. Another life vanquished by substance abuse.

Why do we care so much? Was she really such a big star? Seriously, I was barely aware of her existence before she died.

She was a fantastic singer who sang what is, to my mind, one of the most beautiful songs ever produced.

The fact that you didn't hear of her, if you are not a fan of pop music, is probably a good thing. It means she wasn't using publicists to constantly throw her name in our faces.

There are too many "stars" these days whose names I can't avoid knowing, yet I have no clue what they supposedly do to merit their "star" status. (Who is Christina Aguilera, really?)

Why Whitney died.

She was raised in a Christian home. Her mother, Cissy Houston was a notable gospel singer. That environment let her develop her God given talent to its peak potential. All the changes occurred after the record contracts and concerts. It was at that point that large elements of the black music industry began attacking her as not being “black enough”, denying her black roots, and being a “ goody-goody” and much more. It was into that milieu this young woman found herself. I sincerely believe that crowd pressure ultimately overwhelmed her. Isolated by circumstance and the willful maneuvering by the hangers-on, party people and lousy managers and the scum bucket Bobby Brown she succumbed. It came to the point ( on Oprah or elsewhere) that she ended up saying “I'm not the goody two shoes some people think. I can get down and raunchy etc.”. That degenerate world ate her up.

Dwight “Doc” Gooden similarly succumbed to the black hip drug using black athletic environment.

The real tragedy is the damage done to her daughter. Imagine seeing the sparkling past of your mother and contrasting it with the reality of you drug addled mother pleading with friends for a $100 and knowing it was for the next drug hit. All of Whitney's hundreds of millions of dollars didn't go to drugs, managers and hangers-on stripped her carcase clean while she was alive. So far it doesn't seem that WH made any provisions for her only child. Hopefully Cissy had enough influence with her daughter to make sure the granddaughter was provide for.

YouTube Whitney Houston - Battle Hymn Of The Republic (WHH)

Star Spangled Banner Whitney Houston

From Wikipedia

The Star Spangled Banner (Whitney Houston song)

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The Superbowl Performance

On January 27, 1991–10 days into the Persian Gulf War—Whitney Houston took the field at Tampa Stadium and performed "The Star Spangled Banner," back by the Florida Orchestra along with music director Jahja Ling, before 73,813 fans, 115 million viewers in the United States and a worldwide television audience of 750 million.[4][5] The pregame program including Houston's performance of the national anthem was produced by Bob Best for the National Football League and televised live on American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States.[6] Because of the Gulf War situation, this marked the first time the Super Bowl would be telecast in most countries around the world. Outside of North America and the United Kingdom, the Super Bowl was broadcast for the first time in such countries as Australia, Russia, and most other countries. Houston's performance was later used as a music video of the song.

Houston wears a white tracksuit with a red and blue print and hairband, an athletic uniform that refers to the national tricolor red, white and blue. The announcer asks the audience to join in the honoring of "America" and "especially the brave men and women serving our nation in the Persian Gulf and throughout the world." While the athletes are notably absent on the field, the military personnel, dressed in various uniforms to signify the solidarity among different branches of service, display the flags of the different American states. Two male members of the military are singled out through the use of close-ups: an African-American officer and a white officer. The close-up of the African-American officer raising his hand in salute overlaps with the close-up of the audience. And the close-up of Houston dissolves into the close-up of the white officer, and back again. For a second, both Houston and the white officer are captured within the same frame. The American flag is omnipresent in all shots, either explicitly in the form of an actual American flag, or implicitly through the use of its colors red, white and blue. In addition to the waving American flags, best visible when shot from a distance. On several occasions, the presence of the flag is emphasized through the use of close-ups in connection to the words Whitney Houston sings. When she sings, "...see, by the dawn's early light," a close-up of an American flag dissolves in and out of the close-up of Houston. Houston does not leave the frame, but for a second, the image of American flag is transparently placed over her image. At the point when Houston sings "through the night that our flag was still there," the camera cuts to a close-up of the American flag waving at the top of the stadium. Throughout the performance, there are medium shots and close-ups of the audience waving small American flags. With Houston throwing her arms into the air, the scene is made complete with four F-16 fighter jets from the 56th Tactical Training Wing at MacDill Air Force Base flying over as the performance's grand finale.[7

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