Sometimes a circle is just a circle. That story about the West Point cadets and their hand gestures during the Army-Navy game that made national news is coming back to haunt some who were quick to label the young men as racists. Liberals in media and on social media were quick to jump to the conclusion that it was some kind of gesture made by white supremacists. Case in point – South Carolina State Representative Mandy Powers Norrell. She’s under fire to apologize for rushing to judgment and now that the cadets have been found innocent, she is silent.

Actually, she isn’t just silent now, she has deleted her tweet. Ms. Powers Norrell is being called out by other South Carolinians and by some in conservative media. The internet is forever and she should know that by now. She went right to labeling the cadets as white supremacists.

Will @MPowersNorrell apologize to the brave cadets she smeared as racist this week? Totally unacceptable behavior from an elected official. pic.twitter.com/vdbdRrpV4J

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) December 21, 2019

“Such a cruel and disrespectful environment”? That’s quite a leap. The drama on Twitter never ceases to amaze me. It’s like being back in middle school every day. That’s a state lawmaker – a Democrat – weighing in on a game that I’d venture to say most of us had never heard of until recently. West Point launched an investigation when reporters began clutching their pearls and national news media made it a story. It turns out all of the fuss was over the circle game. The circle game is something new to me. Frankly, the game makes no sense to me. Yet, apparently, it’s a thing. Someone makes the o.k. gesture by forming a circle with his thumb and index finger while the remaining three fingers are extended up. When someone looks, that person earns a punch on his arm. (I use a male pronoun because I don’t think girls play this game. If that makes me sexist, so be it.) West Point determined that the cadets were not white supremacists.

Conservatives are pondering if an apology will be forthcoming from Ms. Powers Norrell. Some liberals are not only supporting such leaps to conclusions but are openly calling West Point’s conclusion false.

Sure, Jan. https://t.co/8QA31CV8P4

— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) December 21, 2019

Since President Trump’s inauguration, suddenly America is overrun by white supremacists because he enables them or something. It’s all so dumb. Clearly this was a case of young men looking for attention from the television camera and got it. They are teenagers. It’s what they do. The Navy is recommending that action be taken against the midshipmen involved in the game.

The Navy, however, said officials are disappointed in the immature behavior of the students and ‘their actions will be appropriately addressed.’

There were no details about their exact punishment, but a Navy report on the investigation said two midshipmen involved should face ‘administrative action’ for ‘failure to use good judgment’.

The Navy said that reviews of footage from the game, more than two dozen interviews and background checks by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI determined that the two freshmen midshipmen were participating in the ‘circle game’ with West Point cadets.

The investigation added that the two naval academy students ‘exhibited genuine shock’ and said they were not aware of the racist connotation of the hand gestures.

It said interviews with friends, roommates and other commanders also found no links to the white power movement.

The Navy’s point is that the midshipmen are expected to make better decisions about their behavior, especially during major events when their behavior is highly visible. Additional training will be provided for students on personal conduct. West Point also noted the cadets’ immature behavior.

The circle game, as it turns out, comes from a television show from the early 2000s. It was featured on Malcolm in the Middle and was used like photo bombers use bunny ears. The gesture was picked up on 4chan after the Anti-Defamation League called the gesture a signal for white supremacy. The idea on 4chan was to take an innocent gesture and turn it into something that enrages liberals. A Coast Guard officer was suspended in 2018 after making the gesture during Hurricane Florence during a television broadcast.

Will additional attention to Ms. Powers Norrell persuade her to apologize to the young men now? We’ll see. If she didn’t do it when the investigation’s conclusion was announced, she probably won’t now. Simply deleting her tweet without explanation is the cowardly way out.

Update: I misspelled Ms. Powers Norrell’s last name above. I have now corrected it; my apologies to readers and Ms. Powers Norrell.