Here's an interesting piece from Newsweek to counter a really annoying and absurd sudden crop of sanctimonious "analysis" of the recent Heene family baloon-boy saga. "Who is to blame for this nit-wit, Richard Heene's ill-conceived hoax to get himself of TV?" some ask. Why the media and reality TV, of course, comes the response from some.
Give me a *%#&ing break!!!
Reality TV is to blame for a moronic stunt like this? As the Kate Dailey piece explains quite well, this is entirely the fault of one greedy, stupid, glory-seeking attention whore. And people like this have been around for centuries. When it wasn't reality TV, then the unscrupulous, the lazy, the morally-bankrupt could find plenty of other ways to scam and con their way into riches, into fame, into attention.
Arguments like the ones blaming reality television - and the wealth, fame, and adulation of some reality TV stars - for this idiotic stunt is like saying that a rash of college cheating and unscrupulous academic behavior should be blamed on valedictorians, on the kids on the dean's list and the honor roll. Why if we didn't lavish so much praise and attention on a select few, then everyone else wouldn't be pressured into cheating in a misguided need to get good grades.
Blaming the media for all of society's ills and a select few people's criminal, unethical, or just plain stupid behavior has turned into modern society's version of "the devil made me do it."
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