The Glade 4.0

Well, she did have a really amazing voice... not sure if there are any other pop singers in the past few decades that top her. I'm also thinking that the delay between now and her stardom isn't too relevant when you're talking about post-mortem acknowledgments.

That said, her image (which is far from spotless) probably should weigh in too, and for some reason the negatives don't seem to count for much in her case. Michael Jackson was the same way. Take some random guy off the street and lump on the negatives associated with Whitney Houston or Michael Jackson and they become somewhat or wholly detestable. Enough positive fame seems to outweigh it all though, especially in Michael Jackson's case.

I kinda fit in the "I don't care" camp, mostly because I feel the flag-lowering is pretty harmless. A famous person with a ton of talent dies and, being a child of New Jersey, the governor decides to acknowledge her passing with a lowered flag order. A bunch of people seemed to be reacting strongly like it was a big deal and I just don't see it. Perhaps some of them fall under the "no flag-lowering for cultural/artistic folks" banner, but I am not one of them.

My flag lowered for her some time ago.