what, me again? It's free speech time!

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm stuck in the office here before class starts and we have a guest speaker today, so no reading required (I hope), I refuse to study for finals today, and I'm bored, so yeah, here I am again. :P

This story has been brewing back home in Kansas for several days now, and I saw it on CNN a few minutes ago, so I thought I'd bring it here for all to share.

Kansas teen won't apologize to governor's office for Twitter post

Seems that, on November 21, a suburban Kansas high school youth group took a field trip to the Kansas statehouse to hear Governor Sam Brownback speak. During the speech, a student in the group sent a tweet to her friends: "Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot."

Typical badly-punctuated, grammatically-awkward teenage social media BS, right? Not anything profound or earth-shattering or horribly offensive? She didn't even really say anything to Brownback; the tweet was a private joke between her and her friends. I've seen my 14 year old cousins post stuff on Facebook that was pretty awful, let me tell you. When the heck did it become funny to talk, in graphic detail, about your period to all your friends and family? My mother would have been appalled. Anyway....

But, this being the age of political idiocy, of course it blew up into some kind of scandal. Brownback's staff apparently patrols the Interwebs keeping tabs on everything remotely related to him, seeking out the very mention of his name, no doubt while furtively minimizing their Japanese schoolgirl porn and stalker wallpaper whenever the Governor comes in the room, and, apparently appalled at seeing said tweet, felt compelled to call the school.

The principal of the school, suitably outraged, immediately demanded the student write an apology to Brownback. She refused. Now here's where the story gets sort of muddled. Some media outlets reported that the school threatened to suspend or otherwise punish her if she didn't write the apology. Other media outlets reported that the school did no such thing and was merely requesting a "voluntary" apology. The student, meanwhile, stated that she absolutely would not apologize, and why should she? She was only expressing her first amendment rights to freedom of speech.

Later, the school district released a statement saying that, no, they had no intention of punishing her. Governor Brownback later apologized for his staff's "overreaction," saying

My staff over-reacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms.

I enjoyed speaking to the more than 100 students who participated in the Youth in Government Program at the Kansas Capitol. They are our future.

I also want to thank the thousands of Kansas educators who remind us daily of our liberties, as well as the values of civility and decorum.

Again, I apologize for our over-reaction.

And I must say, he's right, and I liked that little speech. But what gets me is his staff's initial reaction. Who in their right mind would call the principal of a school, no doubt intending to get a student in trouble, over a silly tweet that didn't even include any curse words, sexual innuendo, or references to the digestive process (perhaps surprising, considering the "tone" of today's youth), let alone anything actually dangerous like a threat? Now, if while in school, on campus, they had tweeted "Brownbitch is a fucking douchebag with five nipples who molests baby chimpanzees while eating shit and giving the Nazi salute and I am going to bomb the governor's mansion!" to the student body, I can understand the reaction. But this was a high school senior, off campus, tweeting something silly to her small circle of friends.

Yeah, that's so dangerous that it warrants a suspension, I'd say! But, this is the same country where you can't display a humorous nonsensical banner while off campus without being accused of promoting criminal behavior and duly punished. So, I am not surprised at the reaction of Brownback's staff. Saddened, but not surprised.

(Now, I'd also like to say, I've met Sam Brownback in person, when I was in DC doing my internship, and whether or not I agree with him--and I mostly don't--I found him to be a genuinely nice guy and very down-to-earth. Not every senator would take nearly two hours of his time during a busy legislative session to chat informally with a bunch of college students. His staff, however, appear to be humorless and thin-skinned.)

By the way, Brownback staffers, if you run across this post because it has the name Brownback in it...

BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK BROWNBACK

...hello, and welcome to the "You're a Creepy Tabs-Keeping Moron Who Would Have Loved Living in East Germany" show! My name is Patrick M. Hayes and I think you're all full of shit!

Comments

[ginnyjake.livejournal.com]

Refusing to study for finals? You couldn't do that. You have to sit in the library on facebook and say you're studying for finals. That's how it works in law school.

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

Your OverLords™ Are Not Amused.

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Well, fuck them. Hard. In the ASS.

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

They would get santorum that way.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

On one hand, we're in a strange area of free speech when it comes to speech by students during school functions. Not a great spot, mind you, but the school probably could have gotten away with punishing her for it.

On the other hand, Brownback should be much smarter than that. Even if he was in the right (and he's not), how this can reflect well on him, I don't know.

[onefatmusicnerd.livejournal.com]

About school functions, not at.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_v._Frederick) had nothing to do with the operation of school functions.

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

So what I got from all this is you want to hear all about my period.

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Here's my period:

.

See?

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

Having grown up in a family that's 80% female and not shy about *anything* I doubt I'd hear anything I hadn'd before. :P

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

Good, because I've got wicked cramps right now and I need someone to bitch to.

[spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com]

EW
OTHER PEOPLE'S BODIES
GROSS

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

pfft, I could have said a lot worse.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

Cats make good heating pads...

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

Yes, if they would just lay still. But they start with the kneading.

[a-new-machine.livejournal.com]

Think of it as a slightly pointy deep-tissue massage.

I know of...

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

... a good treatment for cramps. It is a winner.

Re: I know of...

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

OK! Let's hear it.

Re: I know of...

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

It is not polite to talk about such things in public.

Re: I know of...

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

hmmm, I agree, one should stick to making inappropriate jokes about Herman Cain sexually harassing women.

Re: I know of...

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

What about totally appropriate jokes about Herman Cain sexually harassing women?

Re: I know of...

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

Those I can abide *nods*

[harry-beast.livejournal.com]

What this girl did was immature and disrespectful. It reflected poorly on her, her family and her school. The proper thing for her to do, other than not posting tweets like this in the first place, would be to apologize. The school was correct in suggesting that she do the right thing.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Fire the principal. The only appropriate response to some jack-hole political assistant calling you up to waste your fucking time? Laughter and hanging up the damn phone. Of all the shit a principal has to worry about, you're gonna get off-task because the Kansas statehouse calls about a tweet?

Here's a hint: It's just fucking Kansas, they aren't all the powerful. Brush them off like the almost-irrelevant state government lackeys they are.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

When the left coast falls off into the Pacific you won't say that about Kansas anymore!

[404.livejournal.com]

She is the perfect example of what is wrong with children today, and their enabling parents. I wish they spent more time learning how to write and thinking critically than sending tweets while on a school-sponsored field trip.

If the students were on a High School sponsored field trip, they are still technically under the auspices of the school and their rules, and the school can compel them to write an apology or face the consequences I believe.