On Thursday morning, I was sitting at my sorority house enjoying some tomato soup for lunch when my friend, who was checking the news on her Blackberry, screamed “Oh my God!” She explained to the table the horrifying tale of a young boy caught in a weather balloon by himself. My reaction to the story was that I felt incredibly sad and scared for him—the poor boy must be so petrified, and how will he get down? The frenzy of media attention turned the story from a local to a national narrative.
Los Angeles Times reported that the Colorado Army National Guard was preparing helicopters for the child’s rescue and that flights in and out of Denver International airport were being rerouted because of concerns for the boy’s safety. Then, lo and behold, the boy was in the garage the entire time, safe and sound. I was so excited to hear the boy was safe with his family. The amount of constant media coverage of the case continued that night when Falcon and his family made an appearance on Larry King Live. This is when it gets a little awkward:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI6UONWCq7A
When the dad puts his son on the spot, his son told CNN that his parents said that the story was for a show. I was dumbfounded. This was a publicity stunt? As other media outlets got wind of young Falcon’s quote, they began to publicly question the parents about whether or not the story was fabricated. Now, the New York Times reports that local authorities may very well be seeking felony charges for the parents.
Allow me to make some clarifications: the accusation of this publicity stunt is still that—an accusation. They have not yet wholly proven that the story is not real, and the parents are still denying the allegations. However, I firmly believe this was a publicity stunt, and you know why? Because these days people will do anything for fame. Not only have the family appeared on the reality show WifeSwap (which is absolutely entertaining, by the way) but the dad is a lunatic! He gives me the creeps when I watch him in interviews, like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.
With all this new media and reality TV, it is easy for a Joe Somebody to achieve stardom, even for only 15 minutes. It was just pathetic to me that the family used their children in their sick and twisted stunt. Even now, with possibly felony charges on the way, the family is still making the front page. The irony will be blatant when they actually do end up getting their own reality show, and I will shed a tear for the entertainment industry.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The saddest thing about the balloon boy incidence is the boy’s families receiving negative instead of positive publicity. They executed this scheme to gain positive publicity but its rapidly turned negative, ruining the families chance at ever getting a reality show which is why they created this stunt in the first place. Talk about a turnaround.
ReplyDelete~Right Fringe
I wrote a very similar post about this same event. I hope charges are pressed against them, as they rejoiced as the entire country panicked. Even more sad is that they used their young son to further their reality show goals. I hope this convinces everyone that they are sick, attention-seeking people and not even worthy of their own reality show (if that's even possible).
ReplyDelete