#Baby’s ‘First Tandem’
This time last year, Chattanoogan skydiver Lindsay Manning caused uproar on the internet by posting a photo of herself skydiving while pregnant. It seemed that everyone and his dog had an opinion, ranging from ‘recklessly endangering baby’s life’ through ‘selfish’, right up to ‘brave’ and ’inspirational’, with a debate raging on social media. The story was run by Nooga.com, the local paper, which fuelled the arguments even more. Full story here.
Lindsay made a number of jumps when pregnant – of course the baby was unharmed by the experience and born healthy. A year later, she decided to have a joke at her critics’ expense. Posing for a photo with her 5-month baby in a harness, her friends PhotoShopped two photos together to make it look (to a non skydiver) as though she jumped with the infant.
Announcing ‘baby’s first tandem jump’, the photo caused a second round of uproar on the internet with misguided folk again slamming this most ‘irresponsible’ and ‘crazy’ mother.
On Facebook Linsday came clean, ”It was a joke… a shoutout to my haters, like, ‘Hey, remember that baby you guys said I endangered? He’s beautiful and healthy!’ I really just wanted to stir the pot some more.”
Nice one Lindsay! The prank succeeded in stirring up more controversy – and it also educated some of the general public about skydiving, thanks to the information included in Nooga.com, who ran the story.
Original article by Chloé Morrison in Nooga.com here
