Letters to the Editor
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Infantilizing Black Folk
Yep, it was society that made Whitney into a crackhead. Society, and racism, and celebrity, and white America. And don't forget her lesbianism and even let's presume some sort of abuse in her childhood.
It's never Whitney herself. Because, apparently, as a black woman, she's neither mature enough nor intelligent enough to make her own decisions.
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whitney are you high right now?
Enough with the gyrations already. It is funny as hell what has happened to Whitney, a sold out popped out parody of a soul singer who is really only reaping what she has sown. As i remember it, Whitney's success was one of many in pop music that represented the cultural shift that Reaganism wrought. A soul singer that had no soul, whos every vapid hit was a cynically premeditated manipulation of the desire for something heart-felt, that had gone missing or destroyed. Remember Reagan and after him Bush, appropriating the language of the civil rights movement in the service of a wholesale assault on the very people that movement fought to empower, and you will perhaps remember just how it was Whitney parsed in those days. There is a certain poetic justice to the idea that crack, another weapon in that war, is Whitney's undoing, or maybe considering whatever it was inside her that allowed her to buy into that sordid enterprise in the first place, it just makes sense.
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witlessness & Whitney
Maybe "we" should drop the rather odd conjecture that because some of us identify with the images projected by celebrities, that identification carries inside knowledge of the celebrity's real life. I don't know Whitney Houston and neither does your author. I don't have any inside information which would give me an informed opinion on what sent her on this particular road to hell and neither does your author. I purchase Ms. Houston's music when it appeals to me and that iis the extent of our relationship. I feel sorry for Ms. Houston because, speaking in general terms, crack addicts are often pretty miserable. Your author might consider limiting her relationship with Ms. Houston to music. It is not Ms. Houston's job to live up to any other expectations.
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"Heartbreak Hotel"?
I have to agree with others who are dismayed by Traister's puff piece journalism. I wish I had her job, getting paid for navel gazing and minimal research!
However, what's even more frustrating is Traister spends decent ink talking about racism and the plight of African American women, yet ignores the fact that Houston put out an hip hop influenced album that received a fair amount of attention in 1998, My Love is Your Love, and hit #7 on the R&B charts. The single "Heartbreak Hotel" gives a glimpse of her trajectory from packaged pop princess to troubled woman/artist. But probably because Traister thinks she cares about black folks, rather than actually being in any way involved in black culture (she acknowledges Whitney is special because she appealed to white girls like herself back in the 80s), she missed this one.
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All the White Whitneys
I think what fascinates me most about Whitney's media story is that I see myself in her. That's what makes Rebecca Traister's article good art. Excuse the gushiness.
The drugs and the mirror. The utter lack of dignity. The dirtyness of it all. Hiding in her bathroom from people. The "in the way of your career" kids, the controlling boyfriend/husband. Isn't she exactly what you were afraid you would become if you did not straighten your shit out? Mean, sad and angry.
If there were a black intellectual channel rather than the BEC of the 80%, we would not want to be entertainers, but rather great thinkers, cool headed, simple.
Its not hard to make people famous. Its a function of having a story narrative and publicity. The grocery stores are filled with tabloits, the tv is full of the Dukes of Hazzard, as a distraction from reality. Because, hello?, reality sucks.
Porn and violence is everywhere because our media has been highjacked. Temporarily at least. Thank God that the days of dancing to Whitney Houston songs with a bunch of high rich sad white girls is over. May it be a better year for all of us.
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Hard to be too invested
I honestly don't see how race has anything to do with this. To me, this is just another story of a young person who became ridiculously famous much too young, who accumulated too much money too fast, had too much time on their hands, and didn't seem to have the character to do anything meaningful with her life, beyond performing.
This behaviour was apparent years ago, before the drugs. I'm thinking, in particular, of an early interview with Barbara Walters. Whitney came across as intellectually stunted and self-absorbed.
I'm just not surprised that drugs became her escape of choice. Any more than I would be if it happened to Britney Spears.
Black or white... If your soul is this empty...
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on whitney
I think one reason people don't have any affection for her now (well, I do, but many don't) is because when she was America's sweetheart she was so phony. Such a bauble. You never got a sense of the real person.
There was a rumor going around in the lesbian world (and I mean really going around, for years) that she had a relationship with a woman who was her manager or something. A real butch number. This is before her marriage, in the 80's. In my experience, these rumors tended to be true, but that's all I know.
I think Whitney would have trouble fixing her relationship with the public (and it is a relationship) because it was so phony to begin with. If the lesbian stuff is true, it also shows to what degree she refused to level with her public in any way. Of course she was young, but some artists, as they grow, get more real with their public, and the only way she did that was by becoming so degraded she didn't care anymore. Sad.
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Hindisght is always 20-20
It is always easy to look into someone else's life, to look at their mistakes, to see where (and when) they went wrong.
I have no opinion on Whitney Houston. I choose not to. I choose to pray for her, and hope that somehow, somewhere, we will again be graced with the talent and fire and beauty that she was blessed with, a gift to all of us. ( I do not read tabloids).
What is true is that no matter how any one sees us, it is more important how we see ourselves. That goes as much for that little boy digging out mines in the Congo and dreaming of making it big in America; as it is for anyone, once successful, fighting the demons of drug addiction and alcoholism.
It is the inner vision that propels us upward, or downward, forward or backwards. And in a sense, our mistakes don't matter as much as what we learn from them, and perhaps, because of who we are, we need certain lessons from certain mistakes.
This is what is tragic about the tabloids. They prey on the weaknesses of human beings, showing them in the worst light, without giving us, as human beings a chance to rise above toxic emotions with feelings of compassion, repect, caring and hope for a better day.
It takes so much more courage to choose to give people the benefit of wishing them well, whether by holding them accountable and getting them out of a position they are unqualified for, such as Bush, or by applying sympathy and prayers instead of judgement, such as with Whitney Houston.