Monday, October 19, 2009

You See What Happens When I Give Someone the Benefit of the Doubt?

Clearly the Heene family has a screw (or several) loose. But when I last posted here on Friday, I wasn't 100 percent convinced that the parents had intentionally perpetrated a hoax on the American public, blatantly toying with our emotions in order to secure a reality show contract to become another Jon and Kate, as if they're not enough of a cautionary tale.

Perhaps the kids messed up, I thought, and the 10-year-old mistakenly thought he saw his brother on board that homemade helium balloon while 6-year-old Falcon Heene hid in fear because his dad had yelled at him. I thought it was possible. I wasn't ready to put the cuffs on 'em right away, though the whole thing looked mighty odd.

If there was one thing of which I WAS convinced, however, it was that Richard and Mayumi Heene were certainly guilty of bad parenting, as demonstrated by the Friday morning news interviews they continued to do while their youngest son -- aka faux "balloon boy" -- was literally puking. What kind of a parent keeps going while the kid is sick? The Wife Swap debacles, where the parents encouraged wretched behavior, as well as the rap video with the boys saying manner of awful garbage were solid evidence that the Heenes were poster children for bad parenting.

Then over the weekend, the local sheriff confirmed what many, including myself suspected even though, prior to this, we had no solid proof on which to pin their guilt:

"They put on a very good show for us, and we bought it," the sheriff said Sunday morning, according to the New York Times following a search of the family's home and computers, as well as new interviews with each Heene individually. And as a result, the Wife Swap lunatics may be charged with three felony counts including conspiracy to commit a crime, contributing to the deliquency of a minor and an attempt to influence a public servant, as well as the misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report, according to the New York Times. Children's protective services has also gotten involved in the case.

I further read this morning that Richard and Mayumi met in ACTING class and that they'd been shopping around a reality TV show and had thus far failed. Listening to the 9-1-1 tape, the Heenes seemed to be experiencing parental anguish, which makes me even more angry that I spent even a minute of my life feeling sorry for the heart ache I thought they experienced. But, according to police, it was all bogus. Planned in advance.

Apparently Falcon Heene was the only one telling the truth when he said on CNN that the reason he hid (where, it's still not clear) was because, as he said to his father, "You guys said that we did this for the show."

I think Saturday Night Live put this whole, God-awful mess into the right context:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

No surprise here--i did some googling last friday and saw the wife swap footage-he is a crazy control freak --made even more obvious by his anti-American women comments--and her nasty mouth!--her behavior is exactly what you would expect from someone married to a petty tyrant--of course any woman who gets respect and help from her family she is going to put down and hate on --because she obviously is nothing more than a baby machine and maid at her house--she is like a parrot on a pirates shoulder mindlessly repeating his nasty comments on anyone or anything that he dislikes --which is most things apparently--she has no good mothering instincts or she would have protected her kids from his bull a long time ago--so that they would use their kids to get fame or a reality show is no shocker--planning being famous sounds like a priority in this house- since they were in acting school together--what a mess--I hope they are pasted all over as the poster children for the newly identified practice of chasing fame by creating drama, frenzy and media attention--I hope Octomom and the Heene's never get a reality show--I am sick of fame seekers exploiting their children for riches--but Britney Spear's parents got away with it and so does Dina Lohan--I guess when they bury their kids at 35 from drug OD's they will blame the paparazzi--but i am sure that won't really bother them as long as the royalty checks kept coming in or they would have protected their children instead of exploiting them.

Meredith said...

My feelings about kids and reality shows have only grown stronger as I watched this debacle unfold. Between the Heenes and the likes of the Gosselins, reality shows don't seem to be doing families and children any favors because of the lengths their parents have to resort to in order to earn their paychecks.

amy said...

This story will end up being about domestic abuse; I think he is incredibly controlling and she is as much a victim of him as the kids are. I read in one article that there have been previous reports of domestic abuse to their house, but she has not filed charges. Sad, but typical of women in this situation. Who knows what he's threatened her with; my guess is she is scared and afraid to do anything, especially come clean and leave him.