Balloon Hoax For Bored Folks.
Oct 19th, 2009 | By David Blane | Category: All Content, Commentary, Media
Could you really live in a word without media? I know it’s an overblown and somewhat cliché concept, but when we all spend more time looking at synthetic light sources than actually enjoying the warmth of the sun, we humans start to misplace our sense of meaning. We all know that with the digital age, and even the modern age as a whole, we have paradoxes of convenience. For instance, a phone that tells us where to go and, therefore, we don’t need the ability to read a map. What’s more convenient, being able to read the map or getting to a destination easily?
This leads me into our next discussion about the hoaxing of America by the Heene family. They lead the public to believe their 6-year-old boy was in a balloon that was floating in the sky. This was followed by a few hours of panic when they could find the boy afterward. Then we learned it was hoax. In An ABC News article (1) Clifford Irving, a writer famous for tricking the public into thinking that he was going to publish Howard Hughes autobiography in 1972 said the Heene family was doing America a favor. According to the ABC News article he said, “Look at all the pleasure that the Heene family brought to the public” and also, “Look at all the hours of boredom it eased.” After countless articles like this one, people have all come to the same conclusion, that it is waste of the public’s time. May I point out; we are still talking about it.
I enjoy Clifford Irving’s either surprising or accidental agreement with a better perspective on media. Yes, he might deserve a punishment for being irresponsible, but, obviously, punishment is not what would have motivated him, right? Are we all guilty of being a bored American looking for a quick fix? And, dare I ask, who is more dangerous in this age, a bored American or a suicide bomber?
For a quick philosophic interpretation of Irving’s quote, “…boredom it eased.” It seems as though he assumes that boredom is not an easy task. In fact, it seems to imply a bit of suffering. This is a little more profound, because, as humans no one wants to feel alone or un-purposed, so we turn to media. There’s not an easy answer to solve this debacle, however I will leave you with two questions. Why aren’t you satisfied with life? And, what will you turn to to solve it?
Whether it’s the improbability that a balloon of that size holding a boy, or that fact that it looks just like a UFO, it seems that either way, America was conned into another media over exaggeration.
Source 1. Legendary Con Man Calls Balloon Boy ‘Fun and Games’. By JOHN BERMAN, LEE FERRAN and SUZAN CLARKE. Oct. 19, 2009. <http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/legendary-con-man-calls-balloon-boy-fun-games/story?id=8858133>
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The quotes in your article should not be attributed to Richard Heene the father of the balloon boy, but Clifford Irving who must have been dug up by some reporter to comment on the current situation involving Richard Heene and his family. According to the ABC article Irving was the subject of 2006 film starring Richard Gere (The Hoax) that tells the story of some hoax he contrived back in 1972. On the subject of Mass Media though that ABC News article has to be one of the worst ever written. I fear for the future of humanity.
ah good call Michael. Thanks.
LIVING WITHIN 20 MILES OF WHERE THIS BALLOON CAME DOWN, I WAS NATURALLY INTRIGUED, AS WAS MUCH OF THE COUNTRY, HOPING AND PRAYING THAT NOTHING BAD WOULD HAPPEN TO THIS CHILD. I WAS HEARTENED TO SEE HOW THE COMMUNITIES RESPONDED TO THIS “CRISIS”, AND THANKFUL FOR THE WELL BEING OF SAID CHILD.
MY PROBLEM WITH THIS WHOLE SCENARIO, IS HOW MANY OF THESE INCIDENTS WILL IT TAKE FOR PEOPLE TO BECOME JADED, AND WHEN A TRUE CRISIS DOES OCCUR, WILL POINT AND LAUGH AND THINK IT IS JUST ANOTHER HOAX.
THINK OF ALL OF THE THINGS WE HAVE BECOME JADED TO SINCE THE INVENTION OF TELEVISION. WE ARE CONSTANTLY EXPOSED TO MORE AND MORE, BE IT FACT OR FICTION, RISQUE, SENSATIONAL, OR OUT OF THIS WORLD SPECTACLES, THAT NOT MUCH SHOCKS US ANYMORE.
PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS TRY FOR A QUICK FIX IN LIFE. IT IS NOT A BAD THING TO WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR OWN LOT IN LIFE, BUT HAVE SOME COMMON SENSE WHEN IT COMES TO IMPLEMENTING YOUR IDEA.