Letters & Opinion
Random Rants with Andy: Balloon Boy
Pointer Contributor
alets410@uwsp.edu
Who would have thought that the story of the week last week would be about a balloon? Not me, that’s for sure. I would have thought the story of the week would have been about health care, Afghanistan or even about Octomom popping out another litter. Instead we were subjected to a story about a boy who was supposedly inside an experimental balloon 5000 feet above the ground. The best part about it was the entire story was a fake.
IT WAS A FAKE!
The boy’s father was trying to get better ratings for his new reality TV show about storm chasing. Will the stunt work? Probably. Americans will probably tune in to see Balloon Dad chasing storms for a week or two, but once they realize the guy’s kid isn’t inside a tornado or lost in a hurricane they will change the channel. Why? Because the show will probably suck. If it didn’t suck, why would this guy need to pull a stunt like this?
The best part about the whole thing is Balloon Dad gave us some great TV. Millions of Americans were glued to CNN, MSNBC or Fox News hoping to find out the fate of Balloon Boy. I know I couldn’t stop thinking about how this kid must be so scared and how were the authorities going to get this balloon down? When the balloon hit the ground and we found out the boy wasn’t inside, we were all relieved.
Even since we have learned that the entire thing was a fraud (thanks to the kid who ratted out his father), we have continued to obsess over the story. We love and hate the fact that a kid and his dad could dupe us so easily. The quality of television we have received from the Balloon Family has been 10 times greater than any other reality TV. For that we should be proud that a simple American family can come up with a better story than anything else on television.
I, as a humble ranter, would like to thank you Balloon Dad for giving us such great entertainment over the past week. Thank you; you sir are a true American hero.
