Frank Rich: In Defense of the ‘Balloon Boy’ Dad

[Me.]

"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.”

Then came even better news. After little Falcon revealed to Blitzer that his family “did this for the show,” we could all luxuriate in a warm bath of moral superiority. No matter what our own faults as parents, we could never top Richard Heene, who mercilessly exploited his child for fame and profit. Nor could we ever be as craven as the news media, especially cable television, which dumped a live broadcast of President Obama in New Orleans to track the supersized Jiffy Pop bag floating over Colorado.

Or such are the received lessons of this tale.

Certainly the “balloon boy” incident is a reflection of our time — much as the radio-induced “War of the Worlds” panic dramatized America’s jitters on the eve of World War II, or the national preoccupation with the now-forgotten Congressman Gary Condit signaled America’s pre-9/11 drift into escapism and complacency in the summer of 2001. But to see what “balloon boy” says about 2009, you have to look past the sentimental moral absolutes. You have to muster some sympathy for the devil of the piece, the Bad Dad. And you can’t grant blanket absolution to those in the American audience who smugly blame Heene and television exclusively for the entire embarrassing episode.

It would be lovely, for instance, to believe that cable audiences doubled in size that afternoon because they were rooting for little Falcon’s welfare. But as Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler would say on Weekend Update at “Saturday Night Live,” “Really?!?” Many of those viewers were driven by the same bloodlust that spawns rubberneckers at every highway accident: the hope of witnessing the graphic remains of a crash, not a soft landing.” Cont…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/opinion/25rich.html?_r=1

[Nikki Stone1]

1. I agree with Rich. I also think that the Heenes should not be prosecuted and be given a show

They have proved themselves to be the perfect American entertainment for our times. Their hoax and its aftermath is actually far more spectacular than any reality show.

[Quantess]

2. The network who put the Heenes up to this

should pay a massive fine. I think the network, whoever they are, deserve AT LEAST half the blame. The network exploited this desperate, attention-needy family to get publicity for their show.

But no, the little guy always gets blamed.

[Me.]

14. At The Very Least

Restitution must be made

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Frank nails it.

But there's more than one kind of fastener that can be used.

I'm more peeved by the fact that this has become a public pile-on, even before the investigation is complete. And, if anyone still thinks that the Rule of Law is a good thing, there remains the indictment, trial, and verdict to abide by. But the Outrage! began a full hour before the balloon even hit the ground. Many newsreaders and DUers alike were figuring out how best to call for the parents' heads. Presupposing that Dick-n-Mayumi are guilty, there will inevitably be screams that they are being "mollycoddled". (And who's this "Molly", anyway?)

Folks, vicarious involvement in a Big-Assed Outrage Frenzy, no matter how well-deserved it may be, is both unattractive, and corrosive to our hopes (or is that "pretensions"?) of Equal Justice Under Law.

It's still "Trial, THEN Execution".

--d!

[Quantess]

16. A lot of people were genuinely upset. I was a little upset at myself for being so upset.

It was bad enough for everyone biting their nails, watching the jiffy-pop balloon on every single news channel and being told that a little boy was in danger, and nothing else was newsworthy! But think of everyone on all those flights that were delayed. And all those brave people who worked so hard to rescue the little boy that wasn't on the balloon. Think of how those people must feel!

The Heenes were the people I loved to hate, until it was revealed that an unnamed network put the Heenes up to it. So, I agree we shouldn't jump on the Heene-hate-pile-on. We should channel our anger toward the network(s) who were behind it.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. What I really don't like is the deliberate manipulation of the American public.

This stunt is not equivalent to America holding its collective breath when Baby Jessica fell down the well in Texas or the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby. When the balloon turned up empty, it wasn't a far reach to assume that a small child fell out of the basket and was either dead or hideously injured and alone and frightened. All of us were parents vicariously.

This can't be excused for the American pathos for fame and attention.

[TwilightGardener]

5. Disagree with Rich--it doesn't matter how the public or the media reacted, or why.

What the Heenes did was just terribly wrong, and a crime. That's it.

[Berry Cool]

7. He has a point when he says the hoaxes pulled by Bush and the big banks were much worse

and did more damage, but then he goes and ruins it by implying that Daddy Heene is just a helpless product of a corrupt society who couldn't help trying to take the only out his world has left to him for making a living: becoming a reality TV star.

Which is, of course, nonsense. Millions of decent people live in this country every day just trying to get by, never making the decision that the only way to do it is to pull a huge TV hoax that will make them the star of a reality show.

Heene is a woman-hating, homophobic, child-abusing asshat and a jerk. This is a weak "sympathy for the devil" column. Rich can do better.

[malaise]

8. He's right

Heene is a product of a corrupt society.

[KittyWampus]

9. that assessment leaves Heene totally not responsible for his own behavior.

[Whisp]

6. agreed. what a circus america has become.

and you bet your ass many were dissapointed that the kid wasn't in the balloon. I was listening to CNN and wow, the disapointment in the announcers voice was not well hidden!

something very strange about this insatiable desire to rip things to vicious shreds. Can't do it to corporate america when they shank you left and right - you sit helpless and whimpering, but balloon boy story makes you all puffy and moralistic and righteous because its 'safe' to do so.

[DireStrike]

10. delete

[mitchum]

11. I like Rich, but I am not part of that "us" or "we"

I choose my own mindless distractions
and don't need the ones that are spoon-fed in our Yahoo society

[DireStrike]

12. He's still a despicable character for many other reasons

even if you excuse the hoax.

[aikoaiko]

13. That's the best "I blame society" piece I've seen in a long time.

This is just more "my hindsight is 20/20" self-congratulatory stuff.

[Paladin]

19. Congratulations.

You just condemned 99% of political discourse.

Rich is, as usual, dead-on in his comments regarding the craven, reactionary media that so much of this country is dependent upon......

[aikoaiko]

20. I'm not condemning political discourse. I'm criticizing Rich's weak defense of the "Balloon Dad".

Even a Rich fanboy can see that there is no defense for the hoax.

[Paladin]

21. Rich Was Not Providing A Defense Of The Hoax.

He was linking that hoax to the sort of hysterical, enabling media set-up we're all saddled with, now. Painfully obvious stuff, I would have thought......

[aikoaiko]

22. I might agree with you if he had not entited his piece: In Defense of the ‘Balloon Boy’ Dad

And then talk about how the hoax was an "inevitable product of this reigning culture"... in which we live.

Painfully obvious, indeed.

eta: Here's my point put another way -- Rich could have entitled his piece "In Condemnation of the "Balloon Boy" Dad" and the written nearly an identical criticism of the media.

[FourScore]

15. I love Frank Rich. He's right too. k/r eom

[anonymous171]

17. Federal and State governments are not to be manipulated for publicity

Lock him away. It would send a message.

[Me.]

18. Sunday Kick