Teenage Girls "Taught Lesson" (Have Season Ruined) by Generation That Loves To Be Negative Online

ESPN- KIRKLAND, Wash. -- Atlee Little League's Junior softball team has been disqualified from its World Series championship matchup over what officials say was an inappropriate social media post.

Little League officials announced the disqualification Saturday morning, just hours ahead of the championship game, which was broadcast live on ESPN2.

Little League described the offending post only as "an inappropriate social media post."

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that an Atlee team member posted a photo on Snapchat showing six of the girls giving the middle finger. The post was directed at the host club from Kirkland, Washington, which Atlee defeated in the semifinals.

These 6 girls will feel the guilt of this forever. I don't care if it's little league. Do you know how big of a deal a Little League World Series Championship is? Especially for softball, where they are lunatics that play every single week of the year.

I get it - They wanted to send a message. Don't be inappropriate online, but does this punishment make sense. This was low hanging fruit for Little League Officials. Let's ruin these girls' hard work to prove a point that "We care." But, this wasn't something racist, it wasn't something that could prevent these girls from getting a job today. It was the 4th most popular hand gesture you can give when taking a picture
1. #1 (I'm number 1)
2. Peace Sign
3. Bunny Ears (Also a peace sign)
4. The Middle Finger
5. We$t $ide

Why is it even a big deal? 

BBC-Monkeys' obscene gesture

The Roman historian Tacitus wrote that German tribesmen gave the middle finger to advancing Roman soldiers, says Thomas Conley, a professor emeritus of communication and classics at the University of Illinois, who has written about the rhetoric of insults.

Image caption They may look innocent, but these squirrel monkeys are capable of their own obscene gesture

Earlier, the Greeks used the middle finger as an explicit reference to the male genitalia.

In 419BC, the playwright Aristophanes puns in his comedy The Clouds about dactylic (finger) rhythm, with a character gesturing first with his middle finger and subsequently with his crotch.

The gesture's origins may extend even further back: male squirrel monkeys of South America are known to gesture with the erect penis, says Dr Morris.

The middle finger, which Dr Morris says probably arrived in the US with Italian immigrants, is documented in the US as early as 1886, when a pitcher for the Boston Beaneaters gave it in a joint team photograph with the rival New York Giants.

Can giving someone the middle finger just be acceptable already? (satire) If you get offended by someone sticking a finger up to you then you are a loser. But there's a bigger point to be made here. How many of these same adults frequent Facebook everyday and get into arguments spewing negativity for hundreds, thousands to see. Adults are worse than kids when it comes to inappropriate behavior.

Here's the best example of this. I remember last year's season of America's Got Talent when Grace Vanderwaal won. She was 12 and I was a huge fan. I might have cried when she won but I'm not telling you. But let's take a look at some comments from ADULTS about Grace winning.

I challenge you to do a 3 minute scroll of your Facebook feed and let me know how many arguments from adults you see. It's becoming increasingly easy for adults to overlook their online behavior to be critically negative online. This was on a video singer of a 12 year - Try searching "Kardashian" or "Trump" and let me know the comments you see. My point is that this wasn't that bad and nothing is being said about the behavior of the "Example Setters" the younger generation is supposed to look up to.

I understand that these little league officials are probably responsible, mature individuals. This was a game and these are kids. You can't just take away a loss that they earned. It's not right. Make these girls attend a workshop on proper social media etiquette. I see this as nothing more than getting ahead of something before the media picked up on it. These young girls will think about what could have happened FOREVER. It's too easy to punish kids. Let's teach them and not lose their respect and attention forever. Who even knows if they were just letting the other team know that they were in fact #1, which is the best hand gesture you can use when taking a picture.

Jordon is the CEO of NFBD
Jordon@NFBD.org