Doing It For The Show?



When I first heard about this, I had no idea what he was talking about.  My cousin told me something about a kid stuck in a balloon.  I thought to myself, how does a kid get into and operate a hot air balloon.  Man, was I way off!  As I heard more about the story and saw the contraption passing for a balloon, I thought that I had to be watching some kind of movie.

I wasn’t aware of all the details.  I heard about the muddled details about what supposedly happened—I guess from the beginning there were things that didn’t make sense.  It wasn’t until “balloon boy” said that “Dad” told him that they did it “for the show,” when I figured out that “Dad” was trying to get some sort of publicity.  When I heard that he participated in Wife Swap, I was even less impressed.  I’ve watched the show and have seen some of the colorful people that have appeared.

From all appearances, at least he has tried to pass this fraud past us.  Should we be surprised? Take a look at the people that are now capturing our “headlines.” Awhile back it was “Octomom” and now it’s Jon and Kate.  What do these people even do? Presumably, they are “regular” people that end up in the “media” (I’m using this term loosely), get recognition and then feel that they’re some sort of star. These people are wastes of time and shouldn’t be worthy of our attention.

For better or for worse, I think that many people envy these individuals.  In our star-driven culture, everybody wants to be star and will find any way of doing it.  So when a “regular” person finds their in-their way of getting attention-they usually take it.  In the case of Balloon Boy’s father, he orchestrated a fraud that tugged on our collective heartstrings.  All of sudden, he’s back on TV.  Can you blame him?

Here’s what I’m saying: I would think that most of us have enough sense to know where to draw the line.  However, when that “opportunity” comes to get some publicity, there are weak-minded people that take it and end up with their names in the headlines.  Guess what?  There are then some of us that buy the gossip magazines that only serve to fuel more of these yahoos appearing. Here is where I put out my battle cry. I ask you: how weak-minded are you?

Author: José A. Rodríguez