Waxing Philosophical

[seal_clubber]

So, Whitney Houston has died, and while I don't think anyone is clapping their hands to their faces in horrified surprise, it does make me think, as I always do when a celebrity dies in a manner that is directly attributable to their celebrity

Comments

[davesbrain]

' ... you will be a musical god, and will have fame and wealth beyond imagining, but you will die when you are fifty. What do you say?" I think a lot of them would say yes to that deal.'

Many good cautionary tales have been written and told about those willing to sell their eternal soul for short-term fame and fortune.

"It's better to burn out than fade away."

"The candle that burns bright burns brief."

[seal_clubber]

I'm not talking about selling their immortal soul for fame and fortune. I'm saying that if you could warn someone that, if they took the fame and fortune route, they would die when they were fifty, I think some of them would find that trade-off acceptable (exactly under the "Better to burn out" philosophy you mentioned).

A more interesting question to me is, if I (or you, or anyone) could flip a toggle switch for a given celebrity -say, Whitney Houston- with "long and healthy but unremarkable life" on one side, and "will generate many popular songs but dies at 48" on the other, would I throw that switch to save her? Would I, personally, be able to judge whether I thought it was a fair trade-off having Whitney die at 48 so the rest of the world could enjoy her talent before then?

[davesbrain]

'would I throw that switch to save her?'

My opinion:

Listening to Houston or Jackson or Spears in interviews, I do believe that certain people are driven by their nature to 'burn bright'. Throwing the switch to stop them would be - for *them* - just as sure a death in the form of a mediocre and thus wasted life.

[wraithgirl]

This is the question to Achilles as well. But geez, I don't know. So many of the people that changed our lives, especially musically it seems, died young. How old was Mozart?

But would I throw the switch to save her? Yeah, I guess I would. But it's a mom thing. I was throw the switch to save her and sacrifice her music just for her children's sake.