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What to say about Balloon Boy? The mainstream media continues to try and pin “blame” and assign “motive” to a Colorado family for setting free a helium-filled “flying saucer.” Coverage of the vehicle’s idyllic 2-hour-plus flight was covered throughout the nation on Thursday as initial speculation had it that the family’s 6-year old boy was aboard the craft.
The Heene family was described by neighbors as weird and odd, but fun-loving. The family was on the ABC reality show Wife Swap, which characterized them as odd ducks in the neighborhood. After all, the dad, Richard Heene, built strange contraptions and inventions.
The dad builds contraptions and other implements in connection with storm chasing. He’s part Louis from Ghostbusters and Wayne Szalinski from Honey I Shrunk the Kids (Ironically played by the same guy, Rick Moranis).
The family chases storms using odd equipment that made funny noises. A subsequent interview on the Larry King Show had 6-year old Falcon saying “it was for show,” and the media ran with it, drawing to conclusions that the whole thing was a hoax.
Folks, the media is running with the hoax angle for one reason: not since Geraldo Rivera’s overhyped Al Capone’s Vaults in 1986 have we seen the main stream media take it in the shorts and get burned so badly on a story. Little wonder why they’re out seeking any kind of angle to discredit a family for nothing more than a backyard invention that went awry.
I also submit that what we witnessed on Thursday was an unplanned experience that goes directly to why this country is the greatest on the planet.
The fact that the boy was not in the balloon isn’t the story. And, of course, the media missed the real story here.
What all of America witnessed before its very eyes was truly a genuine October Sky moment. What we saw is the kind of stuff that could inspire a young man to future greatness. Not just a movie set moment, but an actual event that inspires the innovative spirit in a very real way. Was it risky? Sure. Was it stupid? Maybe. But this country was built on dreams and innovation – and those bold enough to take a risk.
Do you think failure kept people such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Howard Hughes, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates from pressing on? You ask any successful entrepreneur and they will tell you that failure occurred at least 100 times before their one, big success. And each of them developed something unique and valuable that benefited all of humanity.
There’s nothing more provocative and meaningful than a bold thought. And this kid – and/or his parents – have obviously been working at a different level. Events like this tend to lead people to create products that are unique and valuable. And that is what makes this country great.
Instead of being championed, the Heene family is being pilloried and discredited in the media by all the usual suspects. Clearly, the media backflipped in its zealousness to get the story first instead of getting the story right, and is trying to wipe the egg off its collective face with thinly-veiled angles to the second-day story such as “was it a hoax?” or brow-beating the family during interviews. Shameful.
The frenzy continued Friday, picking the family apart, trying to assign some sort of “blame.” Meredith Vieira of NBC’s Today Show shamefully grilled the family – and Richard in particular – in a truly low-brow way and tried to shame Richard into admitting the entire affair was stupid and trite. Vieira used her myopic interview skills she learned on The View, coming off as amateurish in her approach and wanting nothing more than some type of confession.
This boy’s father and mother, Richard and Mayumi, are to be commended. They are unleashing the creative and innovative spirit from within their family and setting an outstanding example for their three young boys by daring to dream. Daring to challenge conventional thought, and daring to challenge themselves, however odd it might look.
That’s the story here, friends.
For it is precisely this kind of entrepreneurial spirit that the Heene’s exhibit that will lead America back onto the road of prosperity.
~ by Frank Gilmore
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1 admin October 17, 2009 at 8:39 pm
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Sorry Horatio Alger, or Mr. Science–or both. I’m not buying so pump that sunshine up someone else’s in box. Crackpot publicity-crazed family has us watching their own DIY home brew reality show right now!