I never got a chance to touch on last week’s saga of “Balloon Boy”, so I have to mention now how this is so indicative of the problems with our society.
We now live in a country where people will do anything to get on the teevee. The Heene family is the epitome of this new lust, and now that Mayumi Heene has admitted to it all being a hoax she makes her family the poster child of this sick obsession for fame that plagues our society today.
Our capitalistic economy fuels this need for fame. People are willing to go on national television and embarrass themselves all for the rush of being seen. The Henees did it by appearing on Wife Swap and countless others have done the same by appearing on the plethora of other “reality shows”. Even news organizations have fueled this frenzy. “Hey capture it on your cellphone and send it to us!”. Everyone seems to want that minute of fame if its threw the embarrassment of reality tv or making that YouTube hit.
So when did our society become so obsessed with this need? It seems like families should have a lot more to worry about than just getting famous through some scheme. What’s your take on this and what it says about the American culture?