That title is misleading. I really thought the whole thing from yesterday was absolutely hilarious. The funniest part was gauging the amount of people actually disappointed when the boy wasn't found in the balloon. Aww, he was in the attic? I can feel my interest levels deflating.
What would have happened if the child had died? The entire country would have watched it on television and the media would have made bank. They would talk about it for a week and eventually let it drop when their analysts decide its not bringing them money anymore. There were roughly 3 outcomes of the whole scenario. The boy had been in the balloon and he survived. The boy had been in the balloon and he died. And what actually happened, the boy hadn't been in the balloon at all and was never in danger. The first two would have brought the media the most money. The last one must have disappointed some evil old white man when he read it on his blackberry.
But the media is smarter than this of course. The story has changed, now it isn't of a boy potentially flying too close the sun like Icarus, now its of a father who wanted some more minutes in the spotlight. It was a hoax! Oy me, I feel so cheated! Don't play with my sense of entertainment like that! Get me all the facts anchorman!
What a great news day yesterday was. How often do I get to watch live news from the comfort of my living room? And such life-threatening stuff it might have been made for the movies. How long before I get something like this again? Wait a second CNN is your headline true? In Australia just hours ago a mother a stroller with the baby still inside! collapsed into the path of an oncoming subway. That's horrible! Oh! It was caught on videotape? I'm glad there was such a good Samaritan on hand to get this footage! CNN what would you be without us?
The baby miraculously survives. And the boy who didn't fly is now a chump. Topped by a 6 month year old baby. But whose to say what the future holds, the baby in the video might have been a doll.
It's hard not to be cynical. I really wish I weren't. But the evidence just isn't good. I'm not saying both of those stories aren't at all news worthy. It would have been horrible if the little boy had died and it's particularly amazing authorities came to the rescue so quickly. That response is purely thanks to the technology at our disposal today. But really, what would have happened if the kid had died? Is that something which should be broadcast on every station? There's something morbid about a news agency just sitting in their helicopter filming instead of lending a hand. And if it does turn out to be a hoax made by an attention-grabbing father then what? He's succeeded no matter what. Innocent or not he has made it into our consciousness. I doubt this bloop of an incident is ever going to make it into the history books, and I'm not even sure I'll remember it in a month. If I do remember it later in life I'm definitely going to embellish it to the point where I believe the boy actually did float away. And in the story I might tell to my grandkids the boy is the lucky one. He got to leave and adventure in the clouds above the range of telecommunications and Axe bodyspray commercials.
I guess I shouldn't really be cynical. It's not that there are more reasons to become apathetic about society, it's just now the technology exists so that those reasons enter my consciousness with so much more ease. Alas, maybe it's not too late to become an ascetic.
