Balloon Boy, Reality TV and Twitter: Seeing Was Believing

Last week's Balloon Boy story had to be seen to be believed.  Literally.   It was a perfect example of the media deciding because there were pictures, there was a story.  Without the live video of the silvery, homemade flying machine gliding across the skies of Colorado would so many people around the world have been so emotionally invested in the fate of 6 year-old Falcon Heene who they thought was inside? 

Picture the whole episode as a radio story.  How would we have felt then?

Before we discuss some of the more serious Balloon Boy issues, check out the "Saturday Night Live" Balloon Boy sketch.

The whole thing fascinates me for a bunch of reasons.  First of all, I didn't hear about Falcon's little aerial road trip until an hour or so into the story when a repairman fixing the thermostat in my office went on and on about it.   I didn't have access to a television so I was kind of puzzled why he was so caught up in it, telling me how he kept thinking about his own 6 year-old daughter and how scared she would be.

A couple of hours later, I finally got to a TV, saw the balloon on the ground and thought, "Oh my, a 6 year-old might have been in that contraption."  No one could find the kid and there were ominous reports that something might have fallen out of the balloon while it was in flight.

Then I heard the Heene family had been on the reality TV show "Wife Swap."  Hmm, I thought, could this all be phony?

The afternoon progressed, little Falcon was still missing and I was no longer near a TV.  My only connection to the story was on Twitter so I monitored all the tweets using the balloonboy hashtag.

The tweets expressing concern for Falcon's safety were outnumbered by tweets telling Balloon Boy jokes at least three to one.  Though I restrained myself from joining in, I laughed like crazy at the viral Kanye West joke:  "Excuse me balloon boy, imma let you finish but Amelia Earhart had the best disappearance OF ALL TIME!"

Even as I laughed I wondered how I would feel if Falcon was found pulverized in a Colorado field somewhere after falling to his death. That's where those other tweets came in. The ones from people worried about the kid, and like the repairman in my office, imagining their 6 year-olds up there. Those people were very upset and I definitely wasn't laughing at them.

But the Kanye jokes? Another story. And honestly, I had experience on my side.

I'm always the one who points a finger at the tearful boyfriend begging for his missing girlfriend's return saying, "Liar!  You did it!"

I'm usually right.

I'm also always the one who points a finger at the tearful reality show contestant who says it was the editing that made her look like a cold-hearted, back stabbing bitch saying, "Liar!  You are a cold-hearted, back stabbing bitch!"

I'm usually right.

But on the flip side, I'm also the one who sometimes points at the Britney Spears' of the world and says, "Yo people!  This ain't funny, this girl is seriously messed up and needs help."

I'm usually right about that too.

So what did I conclude from all of this?  First, I wasn't as emotionally invested in the kid because I hadn't been following the video for hours.  Less video exposure meant less emotional investment.

Second, part of our need as humans these days is not to feel "had."  How many times have we become emotionally invested in some hot news story only to discover we've been duped?  Bamboozled?  Hoodwinked?  Flimflammed?

Too often to count.  No one wants to feel like an idiot, time after time.  Therefore, why shouldn't we make jokes about a reality TV show family whose kid might be about to die?  After all it can't possibly be true.  The Heene's were on a reality show, for gosh sakes and we know those people never tell the truth.

Is that a good way for us to think if we aspire to be compassionate human beings?  Probably not.  But is it how we've been conditioned by our modern day media culture?  Unfortunately, yes.

Because Richard Heene seems to have proven the cynics among us right once again, that every reality TV show contestant will do anything to get rich/famous, I suspect there are a few more people who'll be willing to make jokes on Twitter the next time something like this happens. 

Except next time it might be true.  It might be a real crisis with a real tragedy.  How will we feel then?

The Angry Black Bitch thought about the media's coverage as well.  She wrote this before the sherriff's announcement yesterday that he thinks the whole thing was a hoax:

What I’m currently fascinated by is the press…now doubtful ‘cause of something Balloon Boy said on Larry King last night about doing it because of a “show” (Lawd, have mercy!)…yeah, so now the press is attempting to find out if this entire thing was a stunt or if maybe the kids were pulling a stunt on their parents that got out of control or if this whole thing was really what it was reported to be and Balloon Boy really was hiding in the attic while the whole world was watching his balloon as if his ass was in it.

Observing the difficult time these morning anchors are having getting to the facts of the matter sure as sh*t is fascinating!

My fellow BlogHer CE Nordette Adams watched the sherriff's press conference yesterday and wrote her thoughts on her own blog Whose Shoes Are These Anyway?

What did you think?

Related Links:

Reality TV Magazine:  WifeSwap Balloon Boy A Hoax, Charges To Be Filed

Amy Grindhouse.com:  Balloon Boy Stunt Is Now Officially A Hoax

Cross Posted From BlogHer

The afternoon progressed, little Falcon was still missing and I was no longer near a TV.  My only connection to the story was on Twitter so I monitored all the tweets using the balloonboy hashtag.

The tweets expressing concern for Falcon's safety were outnumbered by tweets telling Balloon Boy jokes at least three to one.  Though I restrained myself from joining in, I laughed like crazy at the viral Kanye West joke:  "Excuse me balloon boy, imma let you finish but Amelia Earhart had the best disappearance OF ALL TIME!"

Even as I laughed I wondered how I would feel if Falcon was found pulverized in a Colorado field somewhere after falling to his death. That's where those other tweets came in. The ones from people worried about the kid, and like the repairman in my office, imagining their 6 year-olds up there. Those people were very upset and I definitely wasn't laughing at them.

But the Kanye jokes? Another story. And honestly, I had experience on my side.

I'm always the one who points a finger at the tearful boyfriend begging for his missing girlfriend's return saying, "Liar!  You did it!"

I'm usually right.

I'm also always the one who points a finger at the tearful reality show contestant who says it was the editing that made her look like a cold-hearted, back stabbing bitch saying, "Liar!  You are a cold-hearted, back stabbing bitch!"

I'm usually right.

But on the flip side, I'm also the one who sometimes points at the Britney Spears' of the world and says, "Yo people!  This ain't funny, this girl is seriously messed up and needs help."

I'm usually right about that too.

So what did I conclude from all of this?  First, I wasn't as emotionally invested in the kid because I hadn't been following the video for hours.  Less video exposure meant less emotional investment.

Second, part of our need as humans these days is not to feel "had."  How many times have we become emotionally invested in some hot news story only to discover we've been duped?  Bamboozled?  Hoodwinked?  Flimflammed?

Too often to count.  No one wants to feel like an idiot, time after time.  Therefore, why shouldn't we make jokes about a reality TV show family whose kid might be about to die?  After all it can't possibly be true.  The Heene's were on a reality show, for gosh sakes and we know those people never tell the truth.

Is that a good way for us to think if we aspire to be compassionate human beings?  Probably not.  But is it how we've been conditioned by our modern day media culture?  Unfortunately, yes.

Because Richard Heene seems to have proven the cynics among us right once again, that every reality TV show contestant will do anything to get rich/famous, I suspect there are a few more people who'll be willing to make jokes on Twitter the next time something like this happens. 

Except next time it might be true.  It might be a real crisis with a real tragedy.  How will we feel then?

The Angry Black Bitch thought about the media's coverage as well.  She wrote this before the sherriff's announcement yesterday that he thinks the whole thing was a hoax:

What I’m currently fascinated by is the press…now doubtful ‘cause of something Balloon Boy said on Larry King last night about doing it because of a “show” (Lawd, have mercy!)…yeah, so now the press is attempting to find out if this entire thing was a stunt or if maybe the kids were pulling a stunt on their parents that got out of control or if this whole thing was really what it was reported to be and Balloon Boy really was hiding in the attic while the whole world was watching his balloon as if his ass was in it.

Observing the difficult time these morning anchors are having getting to the facts of the matter sure as sh*t is fascinating!

My fellow BlogHer CE Nordette Adams watched the sherriff's press conference yesterday and wrote her thoughts on her own blog Whose Shoes Are These Anyway?

What did you think?

Related Links:

Reality TV Magazine:  WifeSwap Balloon Boy A Hoax, Charges To Be Filed

Amy Grindhouse.com:  Balloon Boy Stunt Is Now Officially A Hoax

Cross Posted From BlogHer