America has officially hit a new low. The Balloon Boy circus came to town and the media band wagon jumped aboard before the wheels pulled into the station. What an unbelievably stupid waste of air time this story was. Let's assume for a moment that this whole thing was not a cooked up scheme to get rich and famous, but that it was a real accident. Did this merit minute-by-minute CNN news coverage? Was it on par with planes hitting the World Trade Center? Was it as intense as the U.S. invasion of Kuwait? How about meriting the same media coverage as the Oklahoma City bombing? All this story proved was that even the "respectable" and"responsible" media is all about ratings and money, not news. What a joke. I didn't hear much about this media blitz until it was over. While talking with my mother-in-law on my cell phone, she let me know that this story was all over the news stations. I was running around getting four kids to the places they needed to be, so I didn't even turn on the t.v. until after the news hour. It wasn't until I turned on the computer did my home page update me on the goings on of the day. Of course, like everywhere else, it was the top story of the day. I remember thinking that it must have been terrifying for a small boy to be up in a balloon alone. I also remember thinking what in the hell happened that allowed a six year old boy to be alone in a hot air balloon ready for launch?
It turns out that my instincts were correct. This whole thing was a pathetic attempt to gain a deal for a reality t.v. show. WTF??!! I would ask who are these people, but there are thousands of them. I bet many are kicking themselves for not coming up with this stunt themselves. I, as a rule, HATE reality t.v. There are so many reality t.v. shows that it is impossible to list them all. Most of them involve talentless people debasing themselves on national t.v. in the futile attempt to gain fame and fortune. What these people succeed in doing is making an ass out of themselves on a scale previously unimagined. Granted, there are reality shows where you must possess talent. American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Project Runway to name a few, a precious few. The scariest thing about this is that a large percentage of Americans can tell you who is the latest American Idol winner but that same percentage can't even name our current president. It is sad and accurate commentary on the average American's priorities.
Although many of us are outraged and disgusted with the Balloon Boy saga, we should not be shocked or surprised by it. Too many people are looking to get rich quick via the power of the tube. It should come to no shock that some are willing to lie, cheat and steal for the chance. Especially when you are paid a million dollars to lie, cheat and steal to win your way to being the last Survivor. I feel very sorry for the boy that is caught up in all this. He has been taught to lie and now he will watch his parents prosecuted for the lies. He will also watch his parents get famous because they are prosecuted for the lies. Kind of a catch 22, don't you think?
I wish I could say that this has taught me to turn off reality t.v., but it has not. I still love Project Runway. I remain firm in my conviction it is the only reality show where you actually have to have talent, a brain and the ability to use them both at the same time. When they make another reality t.v. show with the same contestant criteria, I will gladly tune in. As it turns out, I am a reality t.v. snob. I can live with that. Can you live with your appetite for the other type of reality t.v. now that we've seen a peek at the ugly underbelly? Let's all do collective random act of kindness; turn off reality t.v. in all its mean spirited, ignorant and tasteless forms. Our collective American I.Q. will dramatically increase and so will our collective sense of decency.
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