Balloon boy parents get jail time, tough probation

Balloon boy parents get jail time, tough probation

news.yahoo.com

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The parents who carried out the balloon boy hoax were sentenced to jail Wednesday and given strict probation conditions that forbid them from earning any money from the spectacle for four years.

(visit the link for the full news article)

It goes on to mention the hoax was perpetrated in order to gain a reality television show. What drives people to be so self-centered? A reality television show, seriously? I've never quite understood what drives people to create a hoax. Is it the attention? Machiavellian reasons such as Richard and Mayumi's intents?

What kind of sick twisted world do we live in where the drive to be the center of attention is so great that people willingly attempt to fool their fellow humans?

I'm disgusted.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by Agree2Disagree
What kind of sick twisted world do we live in where the drive to be the center of attention is so great that people willingly attempt to fool their fellow humans?

I'm disgusted.

What world do you live in. A world where people like blair gets applauded by religious leaders for being responsible for murdering a million people.

thats the world. Tv has made the world go mad, and they all want some. Planks of wood at least have a purpose in this world.

they also have a court order that prevents them from making any money from their story and still face fines in the amount of reimbursement for the rescue teams time and equipment costs, expected to total well over 50 thousand...

well they did want to be in the spot light right? hope it was worth it

reply to post by andy1033


Yeah I live in that world, but I didn't choose it....

I'm just saying...this is ridiculous. I don't even want to be considered human anymore...not if it puts me in the same boat with these self-centered egotistical beings...

forget jail time
send him to the guillotine!

for his own selfish reasons he wasted important state resources and played with the emotions of millions of fathers and mothers showing empathy.

Send him to the guillotine!

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Their jail time isn't even a substantial amount. Although I do like that they are prohibited from making money of their exploits. No books, no shows, no interviews, no profit what-so-ever. Also, another good thing is that they are being held liable for the expenses endured at the wasted efforts of rescue teams.

Wasn't there involvement by a certain media company who was collaborating with the Heenes to hype this thing up or was that fact buried?

reply to post by Agree2Disagree


I am not having a go at you. It was just a statement of what i feel is this world, and what matters for this world.

I too feel that way, i did not choose to be part of this world, but we are here.

reply to post by star in a jar


Didn't hear anything about that...it'd be interesting to see if anybody could get their ATS-paws on that info....

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
forget jail time
send him to the guillotine!

for his own selfish reasons he wasted important state resources and played with the emotions of millions of fathers and mothers showing empathy.

Send him to the guillotine!

what the hell?? that's a joke right?

reply to post by UFOabducteebe


Why would he be joking? Humans love a good beheading...

reply to post by Agree2Disagree
Ah, found something on that...

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden announced Sunday that he's seeking charges, including felonies, against Richard Heene and his wife, Mayumi. Alderden said the stunt two weeks in the planning was a marketing ploy by the Heenes, who met in acting school in Hollywood and have appeared on ABC's reality show "Wife Swap."

"We certainly know that there's a conspiracy between the husband and wife, you've probably seen some of the e-mails and some of the things on the Internet suggesting that there may be other conspirators," Alderden said.

Alderden said documents show that a media outlet has agreed to pay money to the Heenes with regard to the balloon incident. Alderden didn't name the media outlet but said it was a show that blurs "the line between entertainment and news."

It wasn't clear whether the deal was signed before or after the alleged hoax, or whether the media outlet was a possible conspirator.

"Let's call it (my statement) short of speculation that a media outlet was in on the hoax, but let's not discount the possibility," he said.

carceralnation.com...

Nothing concrete, unfortunately.

reply to post by star in a jar


Awww nothing concrete...what a bummer.

It's always fun to speculate though. That's how rumors get started!

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
forget jail time
send him to the guillotine!

for his own selfish reasons he wasted important state resources and played with the emotions of millions of fathers and mothers showing empathy.

Send him to the guillotine!

I would just like to point out to anyone who will take note that the above comment illustrates perfectly the "world we live in."

What is there to be so surprised about? We as a species are raised and preconditioned to be self-centered and un-cooperative. I do belive that our monetary system acutally rewards selfish behaviour doesn't it? So these people, in a sense, should be rewarded for acting the way their environments trained them to be.

If you want to sit and shake your head at the "world that we live in today" and feel some sense of undeserved self-righteousness then go ahead; but the compassionate thing to do would be to figure out where behavior like this actually comes from.

Don't send our problems to the guillotine, what are we ever going to learn if we just sweep everything under the rug?

If you train a dog to kill you can't kick it everytime it bites a child.

If you train a dog to kill you can't kick it everytime it bites a child

Correct.

Those parents have already been in reality show business, they wanted to extend their business.

They do it for people that watch those things. Blaming the devil for offering you a candy doesn't solve anything.

I don't think they deserve to be put in a dark metal box. I think modern sociology and psychiatry knows exactly where's the problem but putting "those people" under the carpet is the easy way to fix it and shows just how responsible we as a society are.

[edit on 24-12-2009 by SassyCat]