15 Minutes Of Fame? Try 15 Months In Prison Instead!

[ddeclue]

:rant:

<rant>

The Heenes don't deserve "15 minutes of fame" - they deserve 15 months in prison. I'm sick and tired of people like them trying to scam the public and get rich (and/or famous) quickly for no particular reason other than the media is dumb enough to fall for this stupidity.

These shallow greedy people short circuited a town hall meeting on the restoration of New Orleans being conducted by the President of the United States and the media was their willing accomplice - they switched to cover the jiffy pop balloon because hey - it's better video.

I hope the FAA comes down on them hard as well as the State of Colorado.

</rant>

[tridim]

1. They have to or else this is going to start a horrible trend. nt

[Eric J in MN]

2. The idea that a six year old may be in danger in a balloon...

...is a more interesting story than the president-is-speaking-about-reconstruction-efforts-in-New-Orleans.

The former story was a hoax, but we didn't know that at the time. The decision of the media to cover the Balloon Boy story was reasonable.

[Vincardog]

3. but we didn't know that at the time. PFFT

[Eric J in MN]

4. You knew while the balloon was in the air that it was all a hoax? NT

NT

[Vincardog]

7. I knew there was no pay load in the baloon at the time. A load always causes the center of gravity

to hang low. That thing was swinging as only an empty balloon would.

[Eric J in MN]

11. But there was still the possibility that the boy had been in a basket...

...which had broken off and that he had fallen to his death.

[Vincardog]

12. Theres always ALL POSSIBILITIES. Does every possibility warrant constant TV Coverage?

[Thickasabrick]

5. I would beg to disagree - how many six year olds (or any age child)

go missing every minute of every day in this country? Those stories are not covered nationally - the only reason this particular child case was covered was the "jiffy pop" factor. That alone does not make their decisions reasonable. I can see Colorado TeeVee covering this, but not a national focus.

[ddeclue]

6. Not really. It is just more spectacular. It's one person after all.

This is a classic terrorism tactic. Do something that is spectacular but in the aggregate simply not significant to get publicity for your cause. The media deserves a spanking for not looking harder at the balloon and whether the boy could be carried by it.

I looked at it as an aerospace engineer and a pilot and decided it was possible at the time but the dimensions given by the media for the balloon were actually significantly larger than the real dimensions.

[robo50]

10. Excellent points!

This is where the television media fail us. The live photo opportunities here were some of the best in the world, news in the making, live color high-resolution telephoto lens video taken from news helicopters, the kind that cover traffic jams and car chases, fires, floods and other emergencies.

Mr Heene may be the biggest azz in the nation for what he did to his kids, his family, all for his own ego, but he was smart enough to know where and how to get great live TV areal video of his "event".

He played the media like a fine violin !!!!!!!!!!

Shame on them all for dancing along with his tune for so long.

[brooklynite]

8. But, think of the children!!!

Aren't there some right-wing "family values" types who want to keep the family with their kids, rather than turn them over to "socialist" foster care?

[coconut22]

I don't think that they need to go to jail because..

a bunch of women (and I am a woman) like nancy grace,jane valez-mitchell,and the rest of the big mouths on television want to try every case and make everyone guilty before they even go to trial.

I do think that all of them including the children need to go to therapy and community service for at least a year...

[coconut22]

9. Self-Delete