On Sunday’s ABC This Week, Jake Tapper, ABC’s the senior White House correspondent, asked whether the death of Whitney Houston had been overblown by the media. There was a panel discussion about the appropriateness of flying the American flag at half-mast in honor of Houston. At the beginning of the flag discussion Tapper said this:
__I want to read this quote from a woman I know, Vanessa Adelson. She's a Gold Star mother. Her son, Specialist Steven Mace, was killed at Combat Output Keating in Afghanistan in 2009. She wrote, "America has a flag code that governs the use and care of the United States flag. Following the code preserves the integrity of the nation in mourning, distinction, and the symbolic value of that honor. While Whitney Houston had a public-inspiring talent, she gave up that gift by the conduct of her personal life. She in no way is someone worthy of being honored by a nation in mourning. The self-inflicted tragedy of her personal life should only be viewed as an example of how an American should not live their life."
I’ll go even further than that. I do not think any entertainment celebrities, no matter how great, deserve to have the American flag flown at half-mast in their honor. That honor should be reserved for the President, Vice-President, members of the president’s cabinet, leaders of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, military leaders, outstanding civic leaders and most important of all, for members of the U.S. Armed Forces who gave their lives fighting for our country and police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty.
Somehow Americans have lost any sense of perspective when faced with the deaths of famous entertainers. The death of Elvis Presley brought more sorrow to millions of fans than the death by assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The death of child molester Michael Jackson is still being mourned. And now we have Whitney Houston, another great entertainer who, like Presley and Jackson, had a dark side to her life. Houston died on February 11 and her funeral was held Saturday. Here it is Monday and the TV newscasters are still yapping about her.
Yes, mourn the death of your favorite entertainment celebrity if you wish, but please don’t dishonor our flag by flying it at half-mast.
1 comment:
We live in a culture of celebrity, where people are famous for being famous. Ms. Houston had more than that, she had a real and substantial talent (as did Michael Jackson). I have no problem with the State of New Jersey honoring her memory. I also have a problem with flying the American flag at half-staff for a celebrity. I wonder if they will do the same for Kim Kardashian when she shuffles off this mortal coil, or Lindsay Lohan, or Paris Hilton? I wonder what kind of a send-off they gave George Cohan?
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