Ew (Balloon Hoax Family)

I have to say, as soon as I heard this family gave three interviews right! that! day! I called, shenanigans. Frankly what immediately popped into my head was "Heather, how many networks did you run to?!" But I'm at the gym, I'm watching when the father is holding his kid and seemingly crying, saying thank God he's back, and I thought, okay maybe I'm wrong. I admit, the tears moved me.

Then it's all over the place that the poor kid is getting sick on TV, and apparently spills the beans. And then this whole weird elaborate "I have an announcement" and "I'm going to put out a box for your questions" and the whole thing just seems very--off, like he's trying desperately to stir up even more drama. Then you hear they were on a couple of reality shows already, then you hear they were "shopping a story idea" around, trying to get their own show and it becomes clear, this is almost certainly a hoax. This just screams LOOK AT ME. Then when you watch the video of when the balloon was launched, you see the guy, as soon as he "realizes" the balloon is untethered, immediately flip out--I mean, zero to 60 in a second, screaming at his wife and kids, kicking things. No, sorry, people don't react that quickly to shit--they don't get angry *that* quickly, it takes a moment or two to sink in. Apparently this couple took acting lessons--let's just say, they didn't get their money's worth, because he's not very believable.

Then you see that he has a bunch of bizarre YouTube videos, centering around the theme of women who wear too much makeup and how unattractive that is, women who get breast implants and how unattractive that is, women who become Secretary of State and how unattractive THAT is (one of his videos is about how Hillary Clinton is a "reptilian"), women who--you get the picture. The guy has hopped on the "Misogyny is the new irony!" train--if you bash women, you get attention *and* street cred for not being too PC or p*ssywh*pped. You can PROVE you're a man without actually having to, you know, take care of your responsibilities, get a job, read the Torah, the usual.

All of this would be no more than cringe-inducing except for two things: those children, who have been taught by their parents to lie, and 2) the enormous amount of money and resources sucked up by this nonsense. Those helicopters could've been helping someone who really needed it. And they're not cheap. All the northbound flights out of Denver Airport that were diverted--that's ridiculously expensive. There could've been an actual emergency happening, that didn't get the attention it should've because of this clown.

And the kids--I feel really bad for them. That little 6 year old is adorable. And he and his siblings are being coached to lie to people and use them? They're seeing their dad dance around in feigned rage, screaming at them--but it's all "for the show" so do they know to take it seriously or not? I really despise these parents--mainly the dad, since he seems to be more than willing to force his way in front of the camera. Their youngest one is being forced to do something he knows is wrong--it's so stressful, he's literally getting sick. Bless his heart.

The whole thing is disgusting. I hope they dig up every charge they can for this couple, including restitution, and look into that home situation. Then I just want this loser with his fake tears and his fake rage to get a haircut and GO AWAY. Nobody wants to watch your shows, or your lame videos, or hear about your "science." Nobody cares. One thing I despise is when people exploit sincere empathy of human kindness for their own kicks or to feed their need for publicity. (Like that pathetic hoax after 9/11, with that picture of the guy who was supposedly on the North Tower--you know, the one with no observation deck--right before the first plane hit, and you can see the plane approaching in the background. Man, there were already enough horrible stories that really DID happen. Why make fun of people's reactions? Why try to stir up more?) It just makes a mockery of people's decency.

The Little Rock Nine

I've been re-reading the book The Fifties by David Halberstam--I got it on Amazon a few years ago, thinking it was another book about the '50s that I'd read years ago--when I realized it was a different one, I perused it but didn't pay too much attention. Mom snaked it out of my bookcase when she was here a few weeks ago so I picked it up again.

Very interesting book that deals with trends/themes/etc. chapter by thorough chapter. One that's struck me is the on Little Rock--I think it's especially poignant now, with all these people claiming "I'm not a racist..." and then saying or doing racist things.

The facts: 3 years after the Brown decision, nine kids were hand-picked to integrate Central High in Little Rock. Elizabeth Eckford was one of those nine. She showed up for the first day of school (well, she and the others should've been there before then--there were legal shenanigans, injunctions, etc., anything to block these kids' ingress). However she didn't realize that the meeting place had changed--Daisy Bates, the head of the NAACP wasn't able to contact her because the Eckford household had no phone. So this little slip of a girl shows up--all alone. She sees the soldiers, the Arkansas National Guard, ostensibly there in case of violence but in reality their purpose is to keep the black kids out. She sees the Guard letting in the white kids--as she tries to follow them through, they block her entrance. Not understanding, she makes her way to another entrance, and another--the same thing happens. There's been a crowd gathering of militant segregationists--men, women, old people, teenagers--who start following this little girl. Yelling unbelievable things. Unbelievable things. To this 15 year old girl, who just wants an education.

Elizabeth Eckford maintained her dignity throughout all of this--behaved with a superhuman control, although I can't imagine her terror. She finally went over to the bus bench and sat down--a reporter helped her and she made her way home. Eventually, finally, the kids were able to get in--the drama had subsided but the war was just beginning.

It's important to know that Little Rock was actually relatively racially moderate, as Southern cities went at that time. And even more bizarrely, so was Orville Faubus, the Arkansas governor. This is a man who's gone down in history as the proto-George Wallace, a racist, arch-conservative demagogue and yet believe it or not, until the Central High events started shaping up, he was actually quite moderate.* It's--appalling or disgusting, or discouraging, to realize that his actions, which helped create what could've been a fatal crisis, were completely politically motivated. He was not a racist ideologue. He was facing re-election and wanted to defang the segregationists who were going to be challenging him. (And it worked. He was re-elected several times after that.) I don't even know what to say about a man who throws nine schoolchildren to a howling mob, a modern-day Pontius Pilate, just to be re-elected. Like, are you even a human being after that? Elizabeth Eckford could've been killed--easily. Her life was in danger. There were people--more than one--calling for her lynching right then and there, in front of the cameras and microphones. This was the most dramatic episode, but those nine kids were criminally harassed--taunted, stalked, physically attacked--throughout the entire school year. God bless every last one of them. Teenagers? I don't think I could've withstood that at 15. Jesus. How does a teenager have that kind of courage?

*Interestingly, Eisenhower was more racist than Faubus, although he absolutely would've been one of those oblivious types who denied it. The book recounts an interesting episode when a black guy at the U.N., I think it was Ralph Bunch, was going to be honored and Eisenhower was leery of attending the function--because, he said, he thought other people might boycott it, other people might be uncomfortable. He finally was pushed into it, and was stunned to see the function was completely uncontroversial and everyone supported the guy wholeheartedly. Truly oblivious to his own bias. He ended up pulling the rug out under Faubus NOT because of Faubus's actions towards the kids, but because he had gone back on his word to Ike--this bajillion-star general wasn't going to tolerate insubordination.

Although, not that this is to Ike's credit, when he finally did sign Executive Order 10730 (which federalized the Arkansas National Guard) and sent in the 101st Airborne--now the soldiers were on the side of the kids, not the racists--things progressed somewhat awesomely. The book talks about how the soldiers marched up to Daisy Bates home, where the kids were, and saluted the mothers and said "ma'am, we'll bring your children back here at 3:30." Minnijean Brown, one of the nine, said "for the first time in my life, I felt like an American citizen." Which makes me want to cry.

I think people like this morally bankrupt JP in Louisiana want to look at things like this--at one of the most egregious examples of racism on display in this country's history--and comfort themselves, "I'm not like that. I would never do that. That's what racism is." If you'd asked those people yelling those epithets if they were racist, this is what they would say: "No, I'm not a racist. I would never murder blacks, I just don't want them in my school." But thought, feelings, words and actions are all a continuum, you can't compartmentalize. And just because you're not actually doing the worst, doesn't mean you're not contributing to and reinforcing the attitudes that help create the worst.

And not only that, the weird thing is that most of the harassment of the Nine was by a relatively small group--I think Eckford said it was 55 kids out of a pretty large school population (1500? 2000? Something like that). Any white kid who showed any decency to the Nine was also subject to harassment (and the reporter who helped Eckford at the bus stop was practically run out of town). There's something really vile that 55 kids can hold an entire school hostage like that--truly illustrating that "all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Crazies on the Subway

Have to say, my nerves are being stretched verrrry thin nowadays by crazy subway people. I've found ever since this summer, I have MUCH less tolerance for The Crazy, even less than I did before. The Fungus was obviously fucking batshit, but she knew exactly what she was doing and was therefore fully responsible, notwithstanding her "Iiiiii'm the victum heah" whining. The Crazies (and their partners, the Loud Ones) seem to be multiplying like tribbles, although tribbles are much cuter and make a nice sound, UNLIKE The Crazies. As much as I love that 59th Street to 125th Street is express, it also puts us as the mercy of these freaks. Last week, I get on at Columbus Circle and there's a preacher. Now most of these guys are hideously annoying, but some at least can speak--they modulate their voices a little, have a preacher cadence. This one had no public speaking skills whatsoever--his voice went UP and DOWN and UP and DOWN, with a heavy accent. I wanted to scream. I glared at him, put on my iPod and turned the sound up--it was pretty high before he was drowned out.

This seems to be happening more and more. The next day, after UP and DOWN preacher guy, came aboard a singer. And yep, it was at Columbus Circle. This guy announced he was there to sing for us, he wasn't going to charge us (gee, thanks) but we could "show him a little love." He plants himself two feet away and starts to sing a capella, quite loudly. The leg from 59th to 125th is a little under 10 minutes, so he gets through several songs--eventually he's walking through the car, sticking his hat into people's faces and rattling it. HATE. Seriously, I just want to smack that thing out of his hand. It's JUST SO RUDE, it really is a form of extortion. Let us ride in peace.

Saturday night, one annoying guitar player (I will say, his playing and singing were pretty good and at least he didn't demand money, it was just too LOUD and more to the point, it was forced on us) and this morning, two annoying Mexican salsa players--again with the LOUD and the hat in the face. The worst was when Mom and I were coming back from JFK airport after our London trip. Something like 5-6 preachers, panhandlers, musicians, one right after the other. And the shtick is so rehearsed and lame.

Thank goodness for iPods. I don't know why but it's really getting to me lately. Personal space and the right to ignore someone--the right to be in my own thoughts and not be forced to interact--is a huge deal with me.