Whenever there is a death of a celebrity who really kind of mattered -in the sense that there wasn’t any bullshit surrounding the profession: She was famous because she was a singer and she wasn’t just ANY singer, she was someone who set a standard- I can’t help but be touched by it.
But my feelings of involvement and upset-ness in their death always makes me aware of the fact that she was not the only person to die yesterday, that there are children dying everyday. I question how much energy I should put into mourning the artist when I can be so passive about that through my day to day life. Obviously I acknowledge that poverty like that exists but one person dies and there is an uproar, hundreds of people die because of lack of water and food and we almost accept it as the norm.
The difference obviously is that even though Whitney was a stranger to us in the definition of the word, she actually wasn’t. Celebrity has changed so much since society first became fascinated by other talented human beings. We are privy to so much information about them, even if it is knowledge they would rather us not know about, the more info we get the less of a stranger they become, you end up feeling as if you do know them. Not to mention her awesome talent as well that is surely a factor in what draws a lot of people to her. We don’t know her really but through her music and seeing the ins and outs of her life you end up having this odd link.
And still I wish I would get as worked up about the thousands of unwarranted deaths that happen weekly.
