I’ve been thinking about the tragic and untimely death of Whitney Houston and how it connects to these posts on celebritism. The first thought that comes to me is that in today’s media-driven, celebrity-preoccupied culture, celebrity deaths receive extraordinary attention.

In some ways, it may seem like an odd thing to be saddened of a death of someone that doesn’t know of your existence. In some ways, it’s still very normal. People have always mourned the death of people they don’t know. The loss of life is sad on any level and it’s a good thing because the opposite, apathy, seems like an inhumane response.

I remember hearing the story of one of my grandmothers crying when she heard the news that John F Kennedy Jr. was [Read more...]