Balloon Boy Heene Family and Reality TV

Colorado Sheriff Jim Alderden reported today, in a news conference, that not only was the Balloon Boy a hoax but apparently a scam possibly backed and funded by a reality television show. The television show or reality-tv outlet or company was not named.

It would seem that more details are likely still to come about the actual motivation of this entire hoax. The Sheriff said he believed there’d been on-going dialogue between the Heene family and some reality tv producers about what it would take to be on a show. There is thought that this evolved out of the Heene family’s recent appearances on the reality tv show “Wife Swap”.

The Sheriff also did say that each one of the children had “guilty knowledge” about this entire thing. That is a rather sad comment on the Heene’s family values or lack thereof.

This raises the question as to the role of reality tv in the deterioration of the values, ethics, and morals of society. How does the forwarding of a quasi-scripted reality – a pseudo reality – affect our grasp on actual reality? Can we tell the difference anymore? What is so entertaining about something that purports to be real, but that everyone generally knows isn’t all that real at the end of the day?

Times are tough economically for many. But even big money is not the solution to all of one’s problems. It seems that there is a cultural belief now, perhaps its even become somewhat of a value, that fame brings endless money and that endless money is the answer to all of one’s problems.

I guess it depends what you believe but I believe that endless money cannot make up for a lack of values, personal responsibility, or the honest effort it takes to create actual achievement.

As Sheriff Alderden pointed out, gaining this kind of attention through perpertrating such a hoax does bring with it criminal charges that do have consequences.

 © A.J. Mahari

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.