What comes up, must come down: Best & worst media hoaxes

Oh, Balloon Boy. The thing about media hoaxes is that they reason they usually spin so far out of control is that part of us -- the viewing public -- wants to believe that they're true. We're happy to buy most of what you want to sell us. Because fiction is often way more seductive than reality.

Then when we find out that they might not be true we get sucked into the even bigger story of how we got fooled.

Yes, we are largely gullible narcissists

While the saga of Balloon Boy (Falcon Heene) turned out to be one of more poorly-conceived hoaxes to come down the pike, there are plenty of others that have sucked us in.

-- Brill Bundy, Zap2it

Related:

Sheriff: Balloon Boy incident 'was a hoax,' parents are actors
Balloon Boy: Criminal charges will be filed