The Balloon Boy Has Landed (in Court)

Last week, 6-year-old Falcon Heene and his weird-science family made headlines when the boy was thought to have been caught up inside a helium balloon. For more than two hours the silver saucer-shaped craft drifted from Ft. Collins, Colo., to the field where it landed just north of Denver. Scores of rescue personnel and police were on hand to help the boy when it hit the ground.

But Falcon wasn’t there.

If you’re like me, your eyes were riveted to a screen somewhere. You wondered things like, Did he fall out? Is he unconscious? Catatonic?  If he’s not in the balloon, was he kidnapped?? I hope he’s not … dead …

Later that day, surprise! Falcon emerged unscathed from the rafters of the family’s garage. By then, though, the Heene clan was a media magnet. Big time. Their neighborhood was a zoo. A friend of mine lives across the street from the family and says getting out of her driveway was nigh impossible—every network in the country, if not world, was covering the story.

Now the authorities say it really was all an elaborate hoax. Richard Heene—of reality show Wife Swap fame—and his merry band of pseudo-scientists allegedly lied bald-faced to national reporters and the world.

Still, I’m wondering if this alleged hoax will have its intended benefits, after all. Because of the frenzy, the family is more infamous than ever—which, unfortunately, usually means stardom nowadays. If law enforcement doesn’t imprison the parents, I predict that a money-grubbing producer or two will hit them up with the reality show they’ve always craved. Because, after all, infamy pays off in this country. Just look at Anna Nicole Smith, Monica Lewinsky, “Octomom” Nadya Suleman, and Jon and Kate Gosselin, for starters.

Why? Why are we so fascinated by bad behavior? And what is “news” like this actually doing to our culture? Are we growing more cynical or gullible as a result of it? And is our fascination with celebrity gradually softening society’s rules, making lying, histrionics and general misbehavior more acceptable in Americans’ eyes? Since our society apparently rewards screwball behavior with “fame,” then what’s stopping another family from exploiting children in another desperate attempt for celebrity?