Balloon Boy Hoax Finally Deflated
Last week during the aftermath of the runaway balloon fiasco, I was tuned into the Sean Hannity show when an internal debate emerged between Hannity and his staff. Hannity’s staff was pretty much convinced that the whole balloon boy episode was a hoax, while Hannity was steadfast in the belief that it was legit. The reasons that Hannity gave for his opinion didn’t make much sense to me. He rambled on about what a great “story” this was, and even fantasized about how great it would have been if the boy emerged from the balloon once it landed. What?
Sean Hannity seems like a very nice guy and a good conservative – but boy can he sometimes be naive!
Almost anyone with half a brain could smell a rat with this story almost from the get-go. Once the balloon landed and there was no kid, and once they started interviewing the wacko parents, it was even more obvious that this was a sick ploy publicity stunt.
As the days passed and details began to emerge, it became more and more clear that Richard and Mayumi Heene had meticulously planned this hoax using their innocent children as props to pull the heartstrings of naïve parents such as Sean Hannity. It seems that many people will fall for anything as long as there are cute children involved. These people operate from the simple-minded premise that no parent would ever use their own children for personal gain. I contend that children are used as pawns for various reasons much more often than people would like to admit.
Anyway, the Heene’s story seemed to unravel as soon as they opened their stupid traps and began doing interviews with the press. Their six year old son Falcon, who was at the center of the hoax, threw up twice during interviews on Good Morning America and the Today Show. Who the hell knows why the boy was puking his guts out? Maybe it was the pressure of being forced to lie on national TV, or perhaps even from being given some sort of sedative in order to keep him quiet while the authorities were searching the Heene residence looking for him. As most of us are aware, the boy was supposedly hiding in a cardboard box in the garage. Could a six year old have stayed in a box that long and remained totally silent?
Falcon also tripped-up during an interview with CNN and gave an honest answer when he was supposed to lie for his pathetic parents. When the interviewer asked the parents if they were calling Falcon when they realized he was missing, Richard Heene turned to his son and asked him if he heard them calling him. The boy responded by saying that he did. Then the idiot father, quite confident that he trained the boy properly, asked him why he didn’t come out when they called him. The boy answered by saying “you guys said we did this for the show.”
Richard and Mayumi Heene are reality television star wannabes. They have already appeared on some dumb show called Wife-Swap, and they’re obviously not satisfied with stopping there. Oh-no…..they want to follow in the footsteps of the disgusting Octomom and the moronic Jon & Kate Plus 8, who also use children as tools to make easy money.
Reality television has become a springboard for lazy and shameless losers with no talent to attain fame and financial rewards. The networks love this programming because these shows are much cheaper to produce than the traditional sitcoms and dramas. It’s one thing if adults want to participate in reality shows and make buffoons of themselves, but it’s quite another thing to involve innocent children who have little or no choice in participating.
According to the latest developments, “authorities” have said that felony charges against Richard and Mayumi Heene are likely to be filed. I can only imagine the circus that will follow the impending legal proceedings. I’d bet that in the end, Richard Heene will take the brunt of the punishment while his wife Mayumi will probably be portrayed as a victim along with the children. I can also envision a book and/or a TV movie coming out of all this with Mayumi Heene raking in the money while Richard perhaps serves some time in the slammer.
The Heene’s wanted to be reality TV stars. It now looks like they’ll get their wish, albeit in a much different venue than they had planned.
