This is an “Awww!” story that rings some ethics alarms. Heartwarming but stupid. Kindness and courage marred by toxic empathy and a rejection of merit for “feelz.” I’m interested in where you come out on the The Sentimental Cheer-Off Affair.
14-year-old Jorgia Walls from Lawrenceville, Georgia, an eighth-grader, found herself the only remaining member of her cheerleading team for the Peachtree Ridge Youth Athletic Association. It was an eight-girl squad in early summer but had dwindled to just Jorgia by September. Ethics Alarm #1: That’s a teeny bit suspicious, don’t you think? It sounds like mutant of two Kirsten Dunst movies, “Drop Dead Gorgeous” and “Bring It On.” The AOL story casually says the strange exodus resulted from “the summer heat in Georgia” and “family factors.” Seven cheerleaders quitting the same squad? What a coinkydink…
Walls refused the options of joining the seventh-grade team or quitting the eighth grade squad herself, but instead decided (with the complicity of the cheerleading squad’s coach) to keep cheering on the eighth-grade football team all by herself. THIS reminds me of a memorable Monty Python segment where space aliens (who look like giant puddings) turn all of Earth’s tennis players into non-playing Scotsmen so the aliens can win Wimbledon. The sole un-transformed human tennis pro has to play himself by running around to both sides of the net. A single cheerleader is almost as silly but not as funny. (cont.)
