If Ol' Blue Eyes was worthy, why not Whitney?
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ordered New Jersey’s flags flown at half-staff in official mourning for Whitney Houston, and a lot of people are outraged. The critics of the honor fall into two categories: those who believe that the honor should be reserved for military heroes and high government officials, and those who believe that Houston is especially unworthy because of her well-documented substance abuse problems.
For his part, Governor Christie defiantly declares that Houston, as a daughter of New Jersey, deserves the state honor because of her contributions to the culture.
Technically and officially, Christie is out of line. Federal law is very specific about the proper treatment of the flag, including when it can be flown at half-staff. Simply put, celebrities don’t qualify, no matter who they are. A state governor can proclaim that the flag be flown at half-staff in his or her state for fallen soldiers, but not for non-military individuals. But governors ignore the law routinely, and have for decades. Tennessee’s governor lowered the flag when Elvis died. Massachusetts did the same for Red Sox great Ted Williams, though he was also a war hero, so no one was going to object. The law, in terms of custom and enforcement, is a dead letter, and probably should be.
True, some governors have abused the spirit of the law, including Christie, when he lowered the flag for Clarence Clemons, the saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band—a great musician, but hardly a figure of transcendent national significance. If 4 USC Section 7 isn’t going to be followed or enforced, then we need some new standards, or before we know it they’ll be lowering the flag for Joan Rivers.
I don’t think Christie’s general objective of honoring important cultural figures is wrong; I think it is a good idea.. These aren’t heroes, strictly speaking, so the comparison with fallen soldiers is not the end of the argument. They are talented and productive individuals who gave a great deal to the nation and the culture, be it music, laughter, beauty, thrills, innovation or wisdom. Why shouldn’t a state lower the flag for a day for Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Georgia O’Keefe, Jim Henson, Judy Garland, Babe Ruth, Duke Ellington, Mahalia Jackson, James Baldwin, or John Wayne? They all meant more to America than the average member of Congress, and are certainly more missed and irreplaceable..
That is true of Whitney Houston as well. Houston married a cur and suffered from various substance abuse problems, but those are addictions categorized as illnesses by the American Medical Association, and being sick doesn’t render a person’s achievements meaningless. Nor does an artist’s character disqualify that artist for appreciation. New Jersey lowered the flag for Hoboken-born Frank Sinatra, and Ol’ Blue Eyes was a bad guy with Mob ties and enough skeletons in his closet to supply every medical school in the country. I don’t recall a lot of complaints when he was given the honor. He wasn’t being honored for his nobility, but for “That’s Life,” “My Way,” “The Lady is a Tramp” and “New York, New York.”
One can quibble with Christie’s judgment regarding who qualifies as a cultural icon, but mourning Houston, one of America’s all-time most glorious voices, with an official gesture from her home state cannot be fairly called wrong, as in disrespectful of the flag or the tradition. Artists make our life richer in many ways; Whitney Houston certainly did. Her personal problems didn’t change that, and if a state, a people and a nation say goodbye, and thanks, with a lowered flag, no one should begrudge Whitney Houston the honor. It’s the least we can do.
Besides, maybe the flag chose to stay low on its own. The way Whitney honored it and America with her unmatched rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” that was the least it could do.
Ethics Alarms 
thx…
Trying to remember how the U.S. flag was flown immediately after Sept. 11, 2001. Of course military members were killed in one of the attacks. But I believe that even if civilians only had been killed, it would have been in order for a presidential directive to fly the U.S. flag at half staff. Now I’m all curious about what governors can do with their state flags, even if they don’t bother with the national flag. Bravo to Christie, and brava to Whitney.
I also recall the flags at half-mast for the two Space Shuttle tragedies. If the nation is in mourning, then there is nothing wrong with letting the flag express it. Governors should exercise restraint, however, in using it to express purely personal sentiments.
Good point about the Shuttles. There were military aboard, but not at war.
Seriously, she was a screwed up singer. Yeah great voice but I can’t think of a single thing she did to enrich my life…. or the life of anyone I know. And when I think of her representation of America outside the country all that comes to mind is her ‘diva in the desert’ fiasco where she snubbed Ariel Sharon on camera and spent the entire walk to be baptised yakking on her cell phone. Good display of respect. I think when you accept that success automatically forgives choices, you are sending the wrong message to the young.
Most successful,very talented singers—Garland! Holliday! Elvis! Lennon!Charles! (writers—London! Poe! Fitzgerald! O’Neill!, actors—Brando! Sellers! Leigh!, artists—all of them!, composers—Mozart! Wagner! Schumann! Comics–Woody! Charlie! Danny! Jerry!) are screwed up.
What matters, except in extreme cases, is the art. She didn’t have to enrich everyone’s life, just enough. She was one of the most successful female pop singers ever, with a voice for the ages. That’s enough for me. Nobody asks about the personal lives of veterans who are honored—Audie Murphy, the greatest hero of WWII, had drug problems, and he doesn’t disgrace Arlinton Cemetery one bit—I’m proud that my Dad, who barely drank beer and never used used a drug in his life, is buried near him.
Like it or not, pop culture icons effect the young in a way that veterans do not. Whitney’s problems were public and on display regularly, in fact, publicized in ‘Being Bobby Brown’. I would venture most young people could detail her struggles and not Audie Murphys. I am not saying we need to vilify her. Addiction is a sickness. She was a great singer, arguably one of the greatest. But the flag display, to my mind, encourages young people to emmulate her and too often we accept celebrity behavior, not even necessarily drug problems, but bad behavior in general as part and parcel of success. These people are making the same choices you and I are every day and i wouldn’t want my daughter to think this was a good path. Except, I have sons. Just my opinion. It isn’t even my flag.
Whitney’s life is the best anti-drug ad someone could create: A transcendent talent who’s productive career was cut extremely short, and who’s life was eventually terminated early. Since her story has been so publicized, noting her passing in this way can clearly celebrate her talent while we rue what became of it.
Neatly and wisely put.
I don’t understand all this hate people have to Whitney after she has died. I can understand people being put off that they lowered the Flag to half staff for her but for people to call her a “Crack whore” is just disgusting. I don’t remember anyone calling Elvis a fat pill hoping junkie when he died.
By the way Sinatra a bad guy? How do you figure that? From everything I’ve ever read about him a he was a hell of a guy with loyal friends who remained close all his life . Did he have mob connections? Yes but then so did my dad who grew up in Brooklyn during the 30’s. And yes he had an anger problem but that doesn’t make him a bad guy.
I also like how you don’t point out that Williams was by all accounts a cheap prick that most people didn’t like. Lol
I don’t point that out about Williams because that’s not the case. I’ve read every bio on Williams there is, inclduing the more nagative ones, as well as talked with people who knew him. He had his flaws—like many greats in one field, he was an absentee father and intolerant of those who didn’t share his passion. But almost all of his team mates found him generous and supportive, and those who worked with him in other fields found him generally ethical, courageous and trustworthy. And he was brutally honest about admitting his mistakes when he was older.
I can’t speak for your Dad; in a lot of neighborhoods, I know, dealing with the Mob was unavoidable. But Sinatra had continuing and close relationships with at least two mob bosses, who were murderers, and he knew it; and he did the Mob’s bidding in Vegas. He also had a tendency to beat up people, which goes well beyond “anger management.” Once I learned enough about Sinatra’s life, I stopped being able to enjoy his singing or acting. Bob McElwaine told me many people in Hollywood, including several of his clients (one of whome was Dino, though Dean obviously liked Frank) wre frightened of Sinatra.
But Jack, Williams played for the Red Sox so that makes him a cheap prick automatically. ;-
My father grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood had friends who went on to work for the Jewish gangsters. I do know that when he went home and would run into them he was cordial but I wouldn’t say he maintained his friendships with them. Although in the mid 80’s when the JDL threatened life he did contact some of them to see if they could intercede.
I guess I see Sinatra through rose-colored glasses. I grew up around men who practiced violence for a profession and were known to settle arguments with their fists. And while I now know that’s not the way you should settle things I don’t find it that disheartening as most people.
I had heard that he frightened people; apparently, Robert Mitchum said Sinatra was the one person in town he wouldn’t fight, as Sinatra wouldn’t stop coming.
Minor quibble: “Half Mast” is a ship-board term. “Half Staff” is the land-lubber’s term. Only ships have masts.
–Dwayne
Arg. Fixed, and thanks, me hearty!
Not always. On a Marine or Naval installation its still refered to as Half Mast.
The flag was lowered in 2005 in memory of the victims of Katrina. I think this was a presidential directive.
The same people that are crying foul probably didn’t mind lowering the flag for Dale Earnhart, Joe Paterno or anyone else. I didn’t know either of those guys until they died, but I didn’t go around the net telling people how to feel about them! You can not know what she meant to some people. It is so absurb that people are saying that she was a drug addict and therefore, she doesn’t deserve to be honored in death. You can’t know how it feels to love someone who was addicted to drugs…I am sure you have one in your family. Will you love them any less if your child becomes an addict. No! It must be nice to be perfect.