Eccentric inventors were once the stuff of romantic comedy. Today they’re the object of derision, anger and possible six-year jail sentences. Does this say something about eccentrics? Or the rest of us?
Richard Heene, father of six-year-old Falcon, the famous Balloon Boy, has been called many things over the past week, the most charitable of which may be “candidate for world’s worst dad.” Yet in many ways he seems the spitting image of Dick Van Dyke’s endearing and fatherly Caractacus Potts character from the 1968 musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Both were crackpot inventors and dreamers. Both created bizarre flying machines. Both involved their families in madcap adventures. And both craved the attention of others: for Potts it was recognition of his inventing skill; for Heene, the siren call of reality television.
It’s true Potts is a fictional character while Heene is an actual father living in Fort Collins, Colo. The expectations of acceptable behaviour may differ between the real world and the fictional. Then again, the line between reality and fiction has become increasingly blurred when it comes to reality television.
Heene may have done lasting damage to his son and family by having them participate in his alleged lie, but he never put his son in any real danger. Remember, Falcon was hiding in the garage the entire time. So how do we explain the massive public scolding and official persecution?
The local sheriff’s department is recommending a wide range of charges against Heene, including conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and attempting to influence a public official. All are felonies, and some entail fines of up to $500,000 and six-year jail sentences. This is clearly judicial overkill. The influence charge, for instance, is intended to protect public servants from threats of violence or blackmail. Heene did nothing of the sort.
If anything, Heene may be guilty of giving a false report, which is a misdemeanour. He should be expected to cover the cost of the rescue effort. He deserves public opprobrium for involving his son in a massive falsehood, not a lengthy jail term.
Heene, boneheaded as he may be, was really just giving people what they want. His stunt with the balloon caught the world’s attention because it was imaginative, unique and tremendously visual. He did everything television audiences and producers demand these days in a successful media event. His crime is not his attempt to present falsehood as truth; reality television already does that on a daily basis with angry twentysomethings locked in glass houses, families swapping wives, beauty-pageant-style searches for true love—these are transparently phony attempts at reality. His real crime was that he did it too well. We were transfixed by his balloon caper, despite our collective better judgment, because it seemed too fantastic to be fake.
No one likes to be made the fool. Not the sheriff of Larimer County and not the rest of us either. But Heene’s punishment should fit his crime, not our anger at being duped.
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So how do we explain the massive public scolding and official persecution?
As always, this is what happens when you create a monster and then allow it to run amok. The monster in this particular case is an amalgamation of the "tough on crime" hysteria (Heene committed a crime and should therefore be prosecuted to the full extent of the law) and the "ZOMG! My taxdollars!" psychosis (his stunt cost the taxpayers money). This will be the inevitable result as long these monsters continue to be fed.
You know what they say about hindsight. It's difficult to take pity on him. If only he were involved, that would be one thing, but involving your kids? That's unacceptable.
If anyone want's to read a funny spin on this story, try:
http://www.whythisblogsucks.com/2009/10/27/why-th...
Fortunately, the author does not dictate the law to either the State of Colorado or the United States of America, nor does his assessment of the pending charges as "judicial overkill" hold any water. He does not decide what Heene may or may not be guilty of. Law and order prevails only when it is uniformly applied. If authorities decide that felony charges are in order, then he should be prosecuted for those charges. It is a mistake to say that this episode was harmless. Filing a false report is like pulling a fire alarm when there is no fire. Heene recklessly endangered the lives of each and every emergency response person who answered that call that day. I don't know about Colorado, but if this had happened in my state and one of those respondents was injured or died en route, whether via traffic accident or any other cause, he would be held responsible. My point is that this was not just some harmless stunt that people are overreacting to. This was an act of extreme negligence and should be punished accordingly.
This article gets it wrong from sentence one.
Richard Heene is not an eccentric inventor. He's a lowbrow scam artist who is willing to use/abuse his family to achieve extremely poor calculated stardom.
The story 'Never Cry Wolf' still applies today.
Only in Canada would we make excuses for this idiot. The simple fact is, if real rescue efforts were required they would have been busy chasing this halfwits obession for the spotlight. Meanwhile someone could have died. It is the equivalent of a childish prank, but by a grown man who should know better.
I could not agree more with the preceding comments about this article. This man deserves everything he gets (in terms of punishment). "Sean" had it right – what if a rescue worker trying to save balloon boy was injured or killed – would the Editors feel the same? Not to mention, the psychological damage this man is doing to his children (did you see the disturbing homophobic music video starring his kids, or the clips of his parenting skills on the previous reality show he was on?). This is no different than calling in a bomb threat or yelling fire just for attention. All that being said, he would make a great TV producer.