It means that the GOVERNMENT cannot persecute her for it not that other folx cannot be unhappy about it Not that other people cannot do or say something about it Rocket River
. . . and we wonder why we have kids acting inappropriately because We encourage it. Kim K and Paris do Sex Tapes . . . we pay them $$$$ and alot of fame Snookie acts a fool on TV . . . .we pay her This chick . . .. will get paid The FRIDAY song girl . . .she getting paid If you cannot be famous. . . be infamous .. . . you will get paid. Other folx are not slamming to Gov for what he did but they trying to see if they can get some micro-fame from it too [which they are by the reporting here etc] We are quite the ATTENTION w**** SOCIETY why . . . because we pay our Attention Whores quite well Rocket River
Did you know that the governor's office and school are government institutions? The Governor's office wouldn't have notified anyone if the girl said "I love Gov Brownback!". This isn't a first amendment issue because there was no law made involving this. But it's a clear attempt by a political body of government to penalize political speech it didn't like. This is exactly the type of thing government should try to avoid doing - just based on common sense, as you can see by the public's reaction.
Except for the little fact she tweeted it to her 50 or so friends - she wasn't looking for attention. It was the governor's office's pettiness that made her famous, through no choice of her own.
She was just talked too. She wasn't beaten. I think the point in this for me is . . .. where is the line between curtailing 'Free Speech' and instructing a child in the appropriateness of its use? How do we teach children about the appropriateness of various types of speech? I guess after this thread . . . I am beginning to wonder if people beleive we should? If a child says her mom is a b*tch in a tweet If we tell her this is inappropriate . . . . am I curtailing her free speech? Rocket River
This is a terrible comparison.. Using such language towards ones own mother will likely warrant corporal punishment, as it should. But saying something as harmless as "you suck" about the governor is considered inappropriate? Nevertheless, even if this were to happen, the government would not be able to punish her. She has not broken any laws. Hopefully, she has broken some house rules, and will receive some punishment from that, but to be punished essentially by the governor's administration is indeed curtailing her free speech.
He's a governor in Kansas. Has anyone considered that when they forwarded the tweet to the organizers the Brownback staff was just really giddy about the shout-out??? I mean...how often does he get twittered. Must of been a Holy Sht moment for his social media staff. So they sent a screenshot of the post with a note that said "“I don’t know if this was someone with your group, but thought if it was, you might want it brought to your attention.” http://www.kansas.com/2011/11/24/2114760/disparaging-tweet-about-gov-sam.html The rest is on the organizers and the principal. And having learned from that whole footloose fiasco a few yrs back, the principal chose to ask for an apology rather then ban the internet. Poor guy can't win.
Personally, I think the lesson we should teach young people should be, if you don't like politicians you have a right to express that opinion without fear of reprisal. If you want to talk about bad lessons, I think she has just been taught one. Specifically, she's been taught that elected politicians don't work for you, rather they are your master. She will now proceed to kowtow to authority for the rest of her life if the lesson was properly learned.
The spokesperson also said: “We just felt it was appropriate for the organizers to be aware … because of what was said in the tweet.” and “That wasn’t respectful,” responded Sherriene Jones-Sontag. “In order to really have a constructive dialogue, there has to be mutual respect.” So it's pretty clear it wasn't out of excitement of being tweeted about.
I wasn't entirely serious with the Footloose reference either, Major . I don't even know if Keven Bacon has been to Kansas. But I will rep the best 6 degrees of separation connection to Flying Monkeys. I'm just shaking my head at the hyperbole here and elsewhere about the governor trampling on rights and quashing dissent, about her brave strong stance, about the first amendment, and the principles that need to be defended. And the sacredness of not backing down from that insightful fantasy of telling the governor he sucked. You gotta fight for your right to twitter. We shall overcome. She made a dumb tweet. Which I think is the main use of twitter. The governor's staff forwarded it to the organizers. With just a FYI intro... unnecessary and possibly dumb on their part, but they didn't demand anything be done, or suggest the girl be reprimanded. Just a 'we found this' an implied 'we didn't really like it' and basically 'do with it as you choose.' The organizers should have realized this particular thing was no big deal, acknowledged the note from the governor's office and added a discussion on social media to their next meeting. It should have ended there. But they forwarded it to the principal. Who was really mean. And told her to apologize. No suspension. No need to clarify whether the governor sucks or blows. I think he should have just told her what had gone on, suggested her tweet wasn't too smart -- and the lesson (since we're all about lessons) should have been about words on the internet not being private and the possible reach beyond the intended audience. But instead, he asked her to apologize for rudeness. She somehow objects to this. The bloggers pick it up. We add a good dose of outrage. A fair bit of fact distortion. And it's a lead story and pending interview on CNN. Crazy.
If everybody was punished for a disrepectful tweet, then Bush would have had all the liberals reported to their bosses and principals and Obama would have had all the tea party nuts reported to their bosses and principal. There is no way in hell that all the tea party peeps are writing letters of apology for all their tweets, facebook posts, or forum posts. Dubya never got principals to force all the students to write apology letters for the millions of distasteful tweets about him.
the governor never asked for an apology. The principal did. There's a very different relationship between a politician/citizen and a principal/student when that student is a representative of the school at a school sanctioned event. I think the principal was wrong to demand the apology. But not unreasonably so. As long as it was for the rudeness and circumstance of her words rather then their content. I guess if she feels, in her heart, that she must stand behind every word of that "I told him he sucked to his face" fantasy tweet -- then she should fight the good fight.
Do you believe schools can't punish kids for cussing? Calling people racist terms? Calling people gay slurs? Etc? Freedom of speech is one of the most misused lines ever.
It is not misused, it is just a complex issue. Nobody said it is without limits. If you want to read up on its limitations (for some of which you provide examples), just read the wikipedia article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States
My understanding of First Amrndmend law is that schools are allowed to regulate political speech only to the extent of preventing serious disturbances. So what the principal did likely is in violation of it since few people knew about the tweet until the cyber watch squad made an issue of it and there was no threat to school discipline and order. Beyond this, the principal simply overreacted, whatever the law is. The governor's staff did not demand punishment so there is no legal issue as far as I know, they are just guilty of acting creepy and dumb by educating her from behind.
You forgot to add "petty". Whether it is a violation of free speech or not this is seems very petty of Brownback's staff to go and complain to the principal about a tweet.
A random teenage girl said someone I've never heard of sucks on twitter?! Woman, get me my pitchfork.
Some of the folks... in this thread, defending the...governor's actions are... making bigger fools of...themselves than the...governor.
