Kansas Governor Apologizes After Staff Gets High School Student In Trouble For Tweet About The Governor
from the #heblowsalot-or-maybe-not dept
You may have recently heard the story of high school senior Emma Sullivan, who was told she had to write an apology letter to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback for a "disparaging" tweet she sent out while on a field trip to the state capitol. Apparently, while Brownback was talking to the group of students, she sent out from her mobile phone:"Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot."She didn't actually make any comments to the Governor, and says it was just a part of a running joke she had with some friends. However, someone on Brownback's staff found the tweet and alerted school officials, who called her into the principal's office and told her that she should write an apology letter to the Governor -- due today. Sullivan thought about it and decided that she wouldn't do it, because she didn't think she should:
"I don't think I should write the letter, and I don't think it would be the best move for me," Emma Sullivan, 18, said late Sunday night. "At this time, I do not think an apology would be a sincere thing for me to do."In response, it appears the whole story shifted in the other direction, and the one apologizing is Governor Brownback, who has said, "My staff overreacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize." Everyone involved now seems to be playing off the whole misadventure as "a lesson in social media and free speech." The school district also said that it would not send an apology of its own, and that "The issue has resulted in many teachable moments concerning the use of social media. The district does not intend to take any further action on this matter."
In the end, it seems like everyone's right that this is something of a "teachable moment," but it's still pretty crazy that it reached that level in the first place.
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Filed Under: emma sullivan, free speech, kansas, sam brownback, social media
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Not "someone", but
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Kids these days and their fancy jargon.
I'm usually pretty caught up on the lingo, but who, or what, is "heblow salot"?
/s
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Re: Kids these days and their fancy jargon.
If I remember correctly, back in the days of Boy Scouting, that was the level between Cub Scout and Boy Scout ;). Too old to hang out with the kids, but too young to get a real job. Then again, Boy Scouts pretty much blew a lot too, lets not talk about it any more.
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Re: Kids these days and their fancy jargon.
Don't you know anything?
(/s)
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Re: Re: Kids these days and their fancy jargon.
Circumcision special on Tuesday's: half off!
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Re: Plus Ungood
Better to teach them to shut up and follow instructions.
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Re: Re: Plus Ungood
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Re: Re: Re: Plus Ungood
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Re:
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I fear for the future of humanity.
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Re:
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Mike's Trolls
On topic: Brave girl. Gotta find her number, I'd like to date such girl ;)
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What were they thinking?
Seriously though, what did his staff expect to accomplish? Should the school shut her up? Sounds like a PR disaster. He needs to get better people in his office.
Classic Streisand effect though. I love it.
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A new law...
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Dear Mr. Governor,
Learn to govern - please study this fundamental right we have.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Sincerely,
A Taxpayer
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Re:
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Re:
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respect
So many people feel that respect is something they have an entitlement to. Politicians especially. The concept that respect should be earned is totally alien to them.
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Gotta love the Streisand Effect.
Welcome to the Streisand effect governor Brownback and the staff of Shawnee Mission East (High School). Here's the link I have and you can't make me take it down.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/26/1039899/-Gov-Sam-Brownbacks-staff-demands-apology- from-high-school-girl-who-correctly-noted-that-he-sucks
Ironic it's on Facebook isn't it?
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Well...
Hint: The answer is no.
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Re:
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Re:
So, does she deserve her 15 minutes of glory? Seems like a fair amount of questionable statements were made either by the student, or on her behalf.
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Re: Re:
They threatened to send a letter to her college of choice to make her kowtow to them.
She made a JOKING COMMENT TO ALL 65 of her followers, carrying on a running joke between them.
The result of this was the Governors Office HUNTING HER DOWN.
The principal works for the district, and until they reprimand him for his stupidity they are approving of the tactics used to trample on the rights of an adult citizen of the state.
Its all about respect for them, she doesn't like an elected official, last I checked you only sent people out to terrorize those people in 3rd world dictatorships.
Maybe if they spent less time trying to manage his image on twitter and actually running the state things would get better.
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Re: Re:
Other than yourself, who said she is a hero?
"nor was she ordered by the district to apologize"
Arm twisting is seldom accompanied by a notarized list of demands.
"does she deserve her 15 minutes of glory?"
What is your problem? She would probably prefer not to be subjected to such treatment.
"Seems like a fair amount of questionable statements were made either by the student, or on her behalf."
Yes, I'm sure it was all just made up and never happened.
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Here are the facts (according to Governor Brownback, the student, and the Constitution)
However, just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean that you won't initially face some kind of negative response, from those that don't care for the manner by which you choose to exercise that right. By the same token, when someone does apologize for overreacting (whether they did it personally, or someone did it on their behalf), a civilized response would be to accept the apology and not dwell on it. That doesn't mean that you don't watch for similar misbehavior, and respond more forcefully if it happens again. But continuing to attack someone, after they have apologized, doesn't provide much incentive for them to change their behavior.
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kansas
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kansas
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sigh...
Government officials who attempt censorship unrelated to national security or public safety shouldn't get "teachable moments" they should get removed from places where they can attempt censorship.
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Re: sigh...
It's not like I want to stop ALL speech (unless I don't like it), so it's not really censorship...
I'll refer to it as IPMyself and claim all rights.....
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And what about the Principal (and his "staff") who asked for the written apology ????
Oops, as was said before, it is Kansas tho it could have been TX.
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It's written that way in the Bill of Rights, isn't it? That free speech shall not be abridged unless somebody's feelings might possibly get hurt?
Reminds me of this incident. Sometimes the people should check their assumptions before casting blame and threatening legal action. And frankly, the school should be better at promoting the students' rights instead of panicking any time a public figure (or his staff) starts huffing and puffing.
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Guilty Conscience
Governors Assistant: OMG they know about the governor giving blowjobs to underaged rentboys in the local park...DO SOMETHING......
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from Sam Brownback, I would ask for
Seppuku
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hari_kiri
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Re: 39-45
42 & 43: She said as much. It was a joke. At the time she had 60 followers, they were her friends and peers who got the joke. She reasonably had no idea the Gov's office was looking for comments about him online.
45: Thanks for noticing.
His apology, if sincere, could have come on Friday afternoon when the story broke, before she had 12,000 followers on twitter. The apology after the bad publicity looks like he's sorry it blew up in their face. If he truly disagreed with the policy he could have apologized upon hearing about it.
I have heard claims of disrespect toward the young lady. She was on a school sponsored "youth in Government" trip. If anything she is guilty of being a teenager. Tweeting instead of paying attention, and guilty of tweeting something of little value in the debate of this governor being a horrible governor, of which there are many good arguments. Disrespectful, sure. But so was vetoing the Arts commission out of existence, making Kansas the only state ineligible for federal arts funds. And doing so in the face of his own party's desire and the desire of the majority of those he supposedly governs.
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IMHO
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