“Up, Up, and Away”

    What could have possessed them to do it?  You
know who I am talking about:  Richard and
Mayumi Heene who concocted the hoax that their
young son had accidentally floated away in a
balloon they had constructed in their back
yard.  The boy — six-year-old Falcon (Don’t you
love that name?!) — may or may not have been
hiding in the rafters of the garage but
certainly was hiding somewhere at the
instruction of his parents.  The drama played
out on national television with an intense
rescue effort which might have cost one of the
rescuers his life.

    It seems that the Heenes are addicted to
publicity and hoped the stunt would land them
on a  “reality” television show.  It also seems
that as yet — unnamed media outlet agreed to
pay them money for this hoax and was a possible
co-conspirator.  The Heenes had already
appeared on ABC’s “Wife Swap,” another
“reality” show.  One hopes that the Heenes and
the “reality” show producers that helped to
perpetrate this fraud will pay dearly, both
criminally and civilly.

    You will have noticed that I surround the word
“reality” with asterisks.  These so-called
“reality” shows are anything but.  They are
actually a form of fantasy meant to excite the
minds of television viewers who seem to have
little significant reality in their own lives.
Andy Warhol once famously observed that “In the
future everyone will be famous for fifteen
minutes.”  I don’t think that will come true,
but I do believe some people will try to inject
meaning into their  lives by almost any means
necessary.

    This episode raises troubling questions about
the moral and mental state of contemporary
Americans.  The moral issues seem clear to me.
For example, what message do parents give their
children when they use them in inappropriate
ways for their own gratification?  But I am
also troubled by the implications for mental
health.  The ability to know the difference
between fantasy and reality is a key measure of
mental health.  I wonder if some people know
the difference anymore.  When we begin to act
out “fantasy” in “reality,” the results can be
tragic.

Love,
Dave