Frank Rich: In Defense Of The Balloon Boy Dad

New York Times:

For a country desperate for good news, the now-deflated "balloon boy" spectacle would seem to be the perfect tonic. As Wolf Blitzer of CNN summed up the nation's unrestrained joy upon learning that the imperiled boy had never been in any peril whatsoever: "All of us are so excited that little Falcon is fine."

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[lglglg]

Remember the writers' strike against the TV networks a few years ago? The group consisted of not only the writers of fictional, scripted TV shows, BUT THE WRITERS OF SO-CALLED "REALITY" SHOWS ALSO. As the Geico gecko put it: "we've been duped".

[blukazoo]

Frank,

He contrived a plan to get sympathy and attention by telling everyone that his kid was lost in a runaway balloon. There is no defense for his actions.

[raker]

I agree with Rich's condemnation of the press for encouraging these freak shows and then playing innocent when the stuff hits the fan, but CNN didn't make Heene a narcissistic mental case. The rest of us are exposed to the same poisonous media and pop culture, but most of us don't take the bait.

[Hontas Farmer]

Read the actual affidavit people.

http://www.mynocodata.com/special_reports/heene2009.pdf

[TalkTalkTAlk]

Blitzer is terrible, he always zones out when he's interviewing people, I am all for the legalization of marijuana, but don;t use while your on air at cnn.

[PSTEN]

What this illustrates the most is the easy with which the media can fool the public and the public just eats up anything that is made to look legitimate by our slick media outlets. The same thing happened on 9/11/01, with the consequence having been much greater. We are living with a highly uncritical public.

[RTIII]

If the public is uncritical, perhaps it's because the level of critical thinking skills is so low - and that may be because it's no longer taught in public schools.
.

[vascopyjama]

If nothing else, the 'Balloon Boy' episode showed up Wolf Blitzer for what he is.

[Fernando]

Come on, Blitzer is cool. He was duped like the rest of us.

[RTIII]

Speak for yourself; I wasn't duped.

I watched on the internet because I was somewhat fascinated by the engineering question of whether or not the balloon was capable of lifting Falcon. It turns out that it was just barely large enough but it wasn't fully filled with HE and it leaked rather badly... But my point is that not all of us were duped.
.

[ChangeurMind]

the NY Times has also failed to call the War Criminals by name.

[deadcustodian]

DENVER, CO – Richard Heene has admitted the balloon fiasco was a hoax; his child is really an alien they were trying to send home.
Last week the world watched stunned as a homemade weather balloon floated over Colorado for hours, supposedly with a six year old boy inside. Shortly after the balloon touched down the family said he had been hiding in the attic the whole time.
Richard Heene has since come forward saying this was an attempt to get his alien child back home that went spiraling out of control. Richard and his wife say that young Falcon fell to earth a little over a year ago. They found him in a small crater in their back yard in his natural alien form, which resembles a large mollusk. Richard was halfway to the taxidermist when the creature finally woke up and spoke.
Falcon’s real parents are political exiles barred from entering Earth’s atmosphere. Since losing their child they have been in geosynchronous orbit over Colorado and in good contact with the Heene parents. Falcon has helped Richard with his career in storm chasing, since Richard only has a high school diploma and never really understood the science behind what he was doing.
http://weeklyworldnews.com/alien-alert/12781/balloon-boy-hoax/

[mombabytiger]

Let's not act like the masses being led to believe nonsensical hoaxes is a recent development. Remember "War of the Worlds"? Or if you're into it (or not) - Christianity?

[PSTEN]

Remember 9/11/01

[RTIII]

Yes, well, there, the events were real while the cause a hoax whereas with the Heenes, the cause was real but the event a hoax.
.

[newmillace]

Thanks, this has encouraged me to carry out my own plan to get on tv, sure hope I get lucky like Heene and don't get anyone killed

[mac33z]

“The ultimate joke is that Heene, unlike the reckless gamblers at the top of Citigroup and A.I.G., may be the one with a serious shot at ending up behind bars.”

America has turned into a pretty grim reality show, when the line quoted above is very believable.
The treachery abounds, sponsored by greed gone wild, and the unending anthem in the business world that is “more is better.”
With little regard for human life, as witnessed via the wars, and now, the health insurers, it’s completely disconcerting.
Millions of American’s have been voted off the island, and the beat goes on, again with little concern for the people, as when Wall St was bailed out, and there was nothing for Main St in the mix.
Maybe the name of the American reality show could be “American Midol,” since there is a dire need for remedial relief, due to cramping and bloating!

[ChangeurMind]

how are those war criminals doing?

[RTIII]

Free as a bird, I believe.
.

[TXfemmom]

I do not like "reality" shows. The only one worth watching is Amazing Race.

All the others just encourage people to be at their worst and we see that far too often, anyway.

[pissedmichael]

Without having empathy for the father, I have to say that the whole incident is reflective of the farce that is television today--and that's just the so-called news. I am in complete agreement with the author of this piece.
Another indicator? 'Reality TV.' Talk about 'suspending belief.'

[brady61995]

between ballon boy and the plane that overshot min. by 15 minutes you would think that was all that happened for three days now on cnn. everyonce in a while i will flick over and its still the same news loop. kind of like hp