Shame on the balloon boy hoax parents

**Hatshepsut** · 18 Oct 2009 06:56 PM

I'm surprised no one has started a thread on this already, but it's crying out for one, so here goes...

Those poor, poor kids. Little kids nearly always think their parents are heroes who can do no wrong. It has nothing to do with what the parents are really like, it's just a developmental thing. To be forced to realize that your parents are lying scum, and have been exposed as such before the entire world, would wreak havoc with your thought processes. Especially for the 6 year old who had to participate in the charade, and must feel guilty about his slip-up on TV.

Also, I hate Larry King.

**Zuul** · 18 Oct 2009 06:57 PM

Wait, what? I apparently missed all of this. The last I heard was that he'd been found and I thought that was it, happy ending for all.

Now it turns out the parents were hoaxing us?

**Sarahfeena** · 18 Oct 2009 06:59 PM

Yeah, I was just reading about this in the Denver Post...article here. If this is true, it's really shameful that anyone would do such a thing for publicity. These folks have already been on Wife Swap, so you know that they are most likely famewhores, but this is really pathetic.

**Zuul** · 18 Oct 2009 07:07 PM

Oh, geez. That's just awful. What kind of basic decency are these people lacking to fake the loss and potential death of their child for publicity?

**Baldwin** · 18 Oct 2009 08:01 PM

Bad enough that they named the poor kid Falcon.

**OtakuLoki** · 18 Oct 2009 08:28 PM

Actually, I feel a lot more postively less negatively towards the parents now that it seems that it was all a hoax. It seems to me that anyone with half a brain should have been able to recognize that a giant balloon would be a kid magnet and take precautions to make certain that their young children do not have the ability to climb aboard unsupervised, or for the balloon to be able to take off by accident. I know that accidents based on ignoring similar levels of precautions happen far more often than I would like to see. But that doesn't seem to me to be a reason to absolve the responsible parties involved.

So, yeah, my opinion about those parents has gone up since the evidence of hoaxing has started to come out.

They're merely asshole twits, now.

**Zuul** · 18 Oct 2009 08:29 PM

At this point I wouldn't be surprised to find out they named the kid Falcon in preparation for the reality TV show they were going to do, to tie in with their weather balloon.

Edit: Valid point, Loki. In a way, finding out that it's a hoax does relieve me. At least I know the little boy was never in any real danger.

**What Exit?** · 18 Oct 2009 08:32 PM

Man did I call this one from the beginning. Our News Networks stink and are insanely gullible.

The Parents are jerks but they may have done a small service in exposing how stupid the news networks are.

**Baldwin** · 18 Oct 2009 10:25 PM

When I first saw the balloon on CNN I didn't suspect it was a hoax, but thought there was a mistake; it seemed highly unlikely that anything the weight of a six-year-old boy was in the bottom of that small aerostat.

People typically overestimate the lifting capacity of a given amount of helium. I blame movies; time and again I've seen balloons or airships depicted with impossibly small envelopes.

**Hatshepsut** · 18 Oct 2009 10:56 PM

Originally posted by Zuul

At this point I wouldn't be surprised to find out they named the kid Falcon in preparation for the reality TV show they were going to do, to tie in with their weather balloon.

You know, you could be right about that.

That would be truly scary parenting.

**ivan astikov** · 19 Oct 2009 04:21 AM

I'm another one who "knew" this was a no-story from the start. And if I'd been aware the parents had been on Wife Swap, I'd have guessed "hoax" immediately.

Go, me!

**What Exit?** · 19 Oct 2009 07:17 AM

Originally posted by Baldwin

When I first saw the balloon on CNN I didn't suspect it was a hoax, but thought there was a mistake; it seemed highly unlikely that anything the weight of a six-year-old boy was in the bottom of that small aerostat.

People typically overestimate the lifting capacity of a given amount of helium. I blame movies; time and again I've seen balloons or airships depicted with impossibly small envelopes.

That was clue #1, I pretty much knew how small the payloads of weather balloons are.

Originally posted by ivan astikov

I'm another one who "knew" this was a no-story from the start. And if I'd been aware the parents had been on Wife Swap, I'd have guessed "hoax" immediately.

Go, me!

That was clue #2 and convinced me immediately the parents are scummy publicity hounds and the news agencies dumber than dirt. They asked to be setup.

**Cluricaun** · 19 Oct 2009 08:56 AM

Well you know what has to be done, right? Stuff that little kid into the balloon and send him off for real.

**Zuul** · 19 Oct 2009 09:10 AM

Well, I most certainly didn't think it was a hoax right off the bat. My first paranoid thought was that the little boy had never been in the balloon in the first place, though. I thought this was going to turn into another Casey Anthony situation and the parents had actually killed the boy and were trying to cover it up with an "oh, he must have fallen and been lost somewhere" story.

**What Exit?** · 19 Oct 2009 09:46 AM

Originally posted by Zuul

Well, I most certainly didn't think it was a hoax right off the bat. My first paranoid thought was that the little boy had never been in the balloon in the first place, though. I thought this was going to turn into another Casey Anthony situation and the parents had actually killed the boy and were trying to cover it up with an "oh, he must have fallen and been lost somewhere" story.

Well for what it is worth, I heard it first by seeing it on CNN Headline news and saw the balloon and did an immediate

and then my wife mentioned the parents were on a Reality show with Wife swapping and thus my ability to believe anything about the story was immediately gone. If I had gotten it in dribs and drags or via radio I may not have been so sure it was a publicity stunt/hoax.

**Sarahfeena** · 19 Oct 2009 10:21 AM

I am so naive...I totally believed that the kid got scared and ran and hid!

I feel really, really bad for the kid...he probably does feel horrible that he gave away their secret, and he never, EVER should have been put in that position. What were they thinking?

**Taumpy** · 19 Oct 2009 02:50 PM

And the nuttery of this kid's parents continues...

http://gayrights.change.org/blog/vie...lloon_boy_saga

**OneCentStamp** · 19 Oct 2009 03:19 PM

Originally posted by Taumpy

And the nuttery of this kid's parents continues...

http://gayrights.change.org/blog/vie...lloon_boy_saga

Um...wow.

**Sarahfeena** · 19 Oct 2009 03:25 PM

Originally posted by Taumpy

And the nuttery of this kid's parents continues...

http://gayrights.change.org/blog/vie...lloon_boy_saga

I watched the video, and I can hardly understand a word of it. The parents are claiming they said "Falcon," not "faggot." Even if they didn't say it, the whole point of the song was about the "pussification" of the world, which gets a big

from me. And one of the words I could hear clearly was "fuck." Charming for 3 little boys, isn't it? And the dad gives the very lame (IMO) that they are allowed to curse because he doesn't want to be a hypocrite.

These people are nutty.

**OtakuLoki** · 19 Oct 2009 03:30 PM

Originally posted by Sarahfeena

These people are nutty.

I am afraid that's a very generous description of them.

I've been using 'fuckwit,' myself.

**Zuul** · 19 Oct 2009 04:33 PM

Originally posted by Taumpy

And the nuttery of this kid's parents continues...

http://gayrights.change.org/blog/vie...lloon_boy_saga

The video was taken down by the time I went to watch it, but by the description...geez. This whole thing is completely insane.

**Hatshepsut** · 19 Oct 2009 06:16 PM

I missed the video too, but if it is even half as bad as the description, it's appalling.

I liked the point that there are places where gay people wouldn't be allowed to adopt, and yet the Heenes would. Yep, that's fucked up all right.

**Baldwin** · 19 Oct 2009 06:27 PM

Originally posted by What Exit?

That was clue #2 and convinced me immediately the parents are scummy publicity hounds and the news agencies dumber than dirt. They asked to be setup.

When it comes to CNN, I don't know if they were really that dumb, or if they didn't mind going along with a hoax as long as it got eyes glued to the tube. Either way, bad journalism.

**eleanorigby** · 20 Oct 2009 08:36 PM

Originally posted by Sarahfeena

I watched the video, and I can hardly understand a word of it. The parents are claiming they said "Falcon," not "faggot." Even if they didn't say it, the whole point of the song was about the "pussification" of the world, which gets a big

from me. And one of the words I could hear clearly was "fuck." Charming for 3 little boys, isn't it? And the dad gives the very lame (IMO) that they are allowed to curse because he doesn't want to be a hypocrite.

These people are nutty.

Wait...so it's BETTER (according to Papa Smurf) that the song is about taking a baseball bat to Falcon?

These people are fucked up.

(but wouldn't it be funny if they were taken away in a balloon and forced to go over the rainbow?) I know it's a lame-ass joke, but really, bad humor is all that is left to get out of this story.

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