An attorney for one of the guards accused of torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib made an interesting point in his opening arguments:
"Don't cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year. Is that torture?"We suppose it depends on who's on top, eh? Ha-ha. We joke. Let's consider the question a little more seriously, after the jump.
This is a human pyramid as performed by "cheerleaders all over America. . . six to eight times a year" (we marvel at the specificity here -- does he have a schedule? -- but no matter):
This is a human pyramid as performed by naked men forced to do so by armed guards:
Iraqi Abuse Was Like Act of 'Cheerleaders' -- Lawyer [Reuters]
ALSO: The editor of "American Cheerleader" weighs in at Low Culture: "With this tasteless analogy, Mr. Womack has trivialized the problem of Army misconduct and insulted the 4 million cheerleaders who work so hard to be taken seriously as athletes and student leaders." [Low Culture]
