Well, you almost got things right this time.

The real issue was that the irresponsible media turned this trivial local event into another Super Bowl, a reality-teevee suspense drama.

(The media behavior in particular, never mind the worst public silliness, in fact is the second most important issue and the second news story other than the event itself and how badly it was handled — and if the tendency to do stupid things like this was known beforehand and exploited as part of a hoax.)

Every American who was watching was, I am sure, hoping and praying for that little boy to survive.

All else, including trying to turn those two hours a political, social, or whatever fodder is pure crap.

I have had children in my life, younger than the youngest one of the family involved.

That, and the involvement of a child in this story, is not the point.

The real issue (and would be the correct object of note if everyone were emotionally mature and intellectually honest) was the ridiculous sensationalism (and media hype of what should have remained a local story, not national news). As I correctly wrote about a gay-bashing story in a recent thread elsewhere on this site, that event is not national news, sadly, because there is no balloon or aircraft with a malfunctioning nose gear (nothing shocking, nor was the eventual landing), or a vehicle being chased by police, that could be deliberately hyped for spectacle, used for sensationalism (and directed at the too susceptible!), ideally for hours, as this event was.

Since you bring up Baby Jessica, yes I have to admit that, then too, I was glued to the TV set, to that “silly, stupid trivia,” making a complete idiot of myself, while instead I could have been involved with much more important matters such as insulting and belittling those with different political persuasions.

You see, then I had a daughter about the same age as Baby Jessica, and today I have a little grandson, an association, yesterday, that caused very profound emotions to well up in me.

How silly. How stupid of me!

Another thing that did not make sense was why would parents allow the media to have access to children so quickly and for so long after such a traumatic day?. . .Another question i had was what parent attempting a hoax would rely upon a child of six to not reveal the deception in a live interview?. . .It has been my experience children of that age are still intact enough to speak with honesty in situations that present authority to them such as a long media interview. . .

in reply to DLS remark, sometimes there are stories that do captivate the Nation because the seize the heart. . .What parent could not emphasize with a young child such as this?. . .Remember Baby Jessica? I think there are some stories that reach into even the archetypal realms where we are drawn by the psyche in ways we cannot begin to understand with our put the bacon on the table lives.

After hearing the interview with the family last night i lay awake and shifted through another world where Icarus (the one that would fly and touch the Sun) and Coyote (the Trickster) perhaps met in the sky through the imagination of a family's psyche? I wondered what Dr. E. would say about the archetype of this incident or if it could be seen in this situation?

Thanks Dorian for this story,there are many layers and complexities to ponder. . . .

No, and you shouldn't overreact (or support sensationalism).

Good for you, DLS, that you weren't “making a complete idiot” of yourself, while the rest of us were, watching what we all thought was the life of a 6-year-old boy at risk.

Do you have any children?

Is this another Kennedy grave bet/prank?

Thank you for your great comments.

To redirect this to something appropriate on this site: The only question is, does they guy's views run liberal or conservative, and which way does he vote, because the “lucky” group identified would gladly let the other have him.

???

“We all held our breath”

???

No, “we” [sic] didn't.

Plenty of us didn't even learn about this story until late in the day. Our lives don't involve teevee, nor silly, stupid trivia like this. We weren't holding our breath, we weren't fixated or obscessed with this trivial event, and we weren't crying in anguish, or otherwise making complete idiots out of ourselves!

Here we have the parents of young Falcon watching the entire two-hour “chase scene” along with, I assume, police and perhaps even aviation esxperts in the same room, in the same house.

Here is the father who built the contraption, including the “cupcake” undernetah, seeing from very clear TV images that the cover to get into he “cupcake”—the only way to get into it—obvioulsy and clearly had not been “breached” in any way, indicating that no one could have gone inside.

Also knowing that there was no box or basket attached.

The question begs, why allow this drama to go on for a two full hours, putting other people's safety in danger (helicopter pilots, etc.) and not tell authorities that there was no way the boy could be in the balloon, and IF there had been a basket or box, concentrate the search and rescue efforts on tthe very early stages of the flight, when the boy, or the entire basket, could have dropped off the balloon.

I don't know…perhaps I am making too much of this one element of the drama.

http://www.groundreport.com/US/Was-the-Balloon-…

I must say, this “balloon”, looked suspiciously like one of those UFO flying saucers. maybe a follow up on this might reveal a government conspiracy or two. What a delight that would be. How big could this thing be, that people believed it could carry away a six year old kid? Surely it could have easily been confused as some UFO flying whatever under certain conditions.