And the headline reads: "'Balloon Boy' saga a hoax" (Sydney Morning Herald, October 19, 2009 - 6:30AM). The first line of the article confirms it: "US authorities say the runaway balloon saga that gripped the United States was a hoax concocted by the entire family to drum up publicity for a future reality television show."
Maybe it's the cynical vein that runs through my body, but I never bought it from the first report that flashed across the screen. (See 'Oh, come on!' previously in this blog.) As the 'story' unfolded, it became even less believable - or at least that's what I thought. But the subsequent hysteria by the media, the authorities, and the gullible many, not just in the United States, but around the world, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that people love this stuff. They love to watch it, report it, believe it, be part of it. And they continue to do so for days on end, until the story eventually runs out of steam, or it's revealed as a hoax, or something else takes its place on our radars.
As for the family, don't they have anything better to do? No? Well, apparently neither do we.
It's happened before; it will happen again. No wonder our world is in such a mess.
No comments:
Post a Comment