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

[Kimberlyd125]

I really don't think "class" has anything to do with this. One can debate the constitutional merits, or the necessity of the governor's staff monitoring Twitter, or whether the school has a right to enforce certain behaviors from its students - however, in my opinion, this has very little to do with whether Emma is "low class" or not. Frankly, I find that people who use the term "low class," particularly in a derogatory manner, about someone else say far more about themselves than the person they are speaking of.

Absolutely!

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Low class means behavior and again I'm sure you know what it means.

I didn't define her by her "tweet" I defined her by her lying, refusing to apologize for crude and crass language directed to an adult.

IMO it's low class to act this way.

What in the world do you think "low class" means? I'm actually trying to put it mildly.



What is so confusing? :crazy::waitasec::waitasec:

I guess what is so confusing is why you keep putting this kid down by calling her low class.

It's just not necessary.

IMO

 

[Chewy]

I'm talking about her behavior in this situation. I don't know her but her behavior is IMO low class. You have every right to disagree with me but um didn't you complain that you were being picked on for your "Opinion."

This is my opinion. If my kid did this I would have made him apologize, not because he doesn't have a right to his opinion, but because he expressed himself in such a low class way.

She stated she said it to the Governor in person. Turns out she lied, but that would have definitely prompted me to make my son apologize.

If you have no problem with this, then that is your opinion. We all have different "values" that we teach our kids. Mine includes being respectful of adults and not using crude language. If you choose to do otherwise that is your right.


ETA The reason I keep bringing it up is because people keep suggesting that she was penalized for saying she didn't like the Governor.

I do not agree.

If she had posted "Met Governor Brownback today who gave us a speech I completely disagreed with and I told him so"


I doubt anyone would have said BOO to her.

IMO she was spoken to for being rude and disrespectful based on her own words. I have to wonder if the Governor even knew about this whole thing before it hit the papers.


AND as I've asked before and never got an answer to, Who took it to the papers? Who started the story? I highly doubt the Governor's office went to the papers to try to shame her into apologizing.

 

[kgeaux]

Exactly. So it has nothing to do with her constitutional rights being violated. If she was FORCED to apologize then maybe you'd have a point. If she was punished for it, then maybe it would make sense. The Governor's office did not demand an apology. I live next door to a Highschool and I've gone over there quite a few times to let them know when their students come to my property and smoke cigarettes and throw garbage. They have apologized to me as well. I didn't "demand" the apology, the school asked them to.......because it's common decency.

Frankly IMO the reason the Governor apologized is to get it out of the papers because there are so many idiots out there twisting this into an issue about civil rights when it's got nothing to do with it.


Why was she asked? Because she was on a school trip when she did it, BECAUSE SHE SAID SHE SAID IT TO HIM.......something everyone keeps ignoring for some reason. And because she's a teenager and he's an adult and it was disrespectful.

Honestly I don't get the confusion here. LOL :crazy::twocents:

She was not asked! She was TOLD. That has been documented in the news articles linked in this thread! If the governor would not have come forth to say his office overreacted, this girl would have faced punitive action from the school for refusing to write a letter of apology!

I think it is pretty well documented that the student LIED about saying this to the governor. She tweeted to her friends that she said the words to him, but she actually did not. She was not rude to the governor. She made a tweet that he would never have known about had his staff been able to react reasonably to a remark tweeted to 65 friends.

I am not saying this girl was on her best behavior. If the school has a policy against students having cell phones during school hours, or a rule that they cannot use them, then she broke that rule. She lied to her twitter friends, and that is also wrong. None of that warrants a demand for an apology to the governor. She should apologize to the school if she broke their rules, and she definitely owes her followers an apology for lying to them. The consequences should be for the things she did wrong, not for expressing a personal opinion.

We agree that the governor issued the apology as a way to defuse the situation, however, I think he would not have apologized so readily if he had been convinced he was in the right. He KNOWS his staff over-reacted.

In answer to your question in another post: The school was contacted by the governor's staff. The school told the girl to write a letter of apology. The girl refused as a matter of principle---she would not apologize for stating her opinion. The student's older sister contacted the media.

 

[Chewy]

I'm sorry but I had a feeling it was her family that contacted the media.

She was TOLD and refused. I'm still wondering why you are even bringing up something that did not happen.

She was rude and obnoxious and then her family contacted the media and she's a hero. Welcome to America folks.

I don't think his staff over reacted at all. I think the school did.

And all the people trying to turn this into a violation of Freedom of Speech. People are still overracting and IMO it's stupid.

She was rude. She said she said it to his face (yes she lied but that's what people were going on from the start) the Governor's office contacted the school. I doubt they would if she hadn't been on the school trip. And the school told her asked her etc to apologize. She refused and her sister contacted the media.

There is no story here.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I'm talking about her behavior in this situation. I don't know her but her behavior is IMO low class. You have every right to disagree with me but um didn't you complain that you were being picked on for your "Opinion."

This is my opinion. If my kid did this I would have made him apologize, not because he doesn't have a right to his opinion, but because he expressed himself in such a low class way.

She stated she said it to the Governor in person. Turns out she lied, but that would have definitely prompted me to make my son apologize.

If you have no problem with this, then that is your opinion. We all have different "values" that we teach our kids. Mine includes being respectful of adults and not using crude language. If you choose to do otherwise that is your right.


ETA The reason I keep bringing it up is because people keep suggesting that she was penalized for saying she didn't like the Governor.

I do not agree.

If she had posted "Met Governor Brownback today who gave us a speech I completely disagreed with and I told him so"


I doubt anyone would have said BOO to her.

IMO she was spoken to for being rude and disrespectful based on her own words. I have to wonder if the Governor even knew about this whole thing before it hit the papers.


AND as I've asked before and never got an answer to, Who took it to the papers? Who started the story? I highly doubt the Governor's office went to the papers to try to shame her into apologizing.

No, actually I didn't. That came from another poster. Not me.

And that's in another thread anyway. Not sure we can bring stuff from the basement here.

The question about who took the story to the media has been answered.

From your post:
"If you have no problem with this, then that is your opinion"
I realize that. In my post, "IMO" is included.

 

[Kimster]

If you guys want to discuss politics, please go to the Political Pavilion in the Member's Only area. :tyou:

 

[Chewy]

No, actually I didn't. That came from another poster. Not me.

To whom you responded

Perfectly said. Thank you!

After previously posting

I've seen it aimed at people like me too. Those who are intolerant of my beliefs and my opinions are just as bigoted as anyone else.

BBM and respectfully snipped by me.

I'm not sure how you meant it but when you say "perfectly said" it does tend to come across as if you agree with what the poster said. And in addition you complained about your beliefs and opinions not being respected by others prior to that comment being made.

And that's in another thread anyway. Not sure we can bring stuff from the basement here.

Well if you deny you said something that you did say (which you've done with me before) for the sake of accuracy I need to quote it because you are basically saying that I am mistaken. No hard feelings. Just want to clarify.

The question about who took the story to the media has been answered.

Yes, not surprisingly.

LOL

 

[Kimberlyd125]

To whom you responded






After previously posting





BBM and respectfully snipped by me.

I'm not sure how you meant it but when you say "perfectly said" it does tend to come across as if you agree with what the poster said. And in addition you complained about your beliefs and opinions not being respected by others prior to that comment being made.




Well if you deny you said something that you did say (which you've done with me before) for the sake of accuracy I need to quote it because you are basically saying that I am mistaken. No hard feelings. Just want to clarify.




Yes, not surprisingly.

LOL

You didn't clarify it because I NEVER said it.

 

[Chewy]

Well the words are there for interpretation. I interpreted it differently than you meant it seems. To me it's obvious.

My apologies.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Taking snips from posts from another thread to prove a point in this one must have taken a good bit of your time and effort.

To prove a point that can't be proven. It's false.

Time wasted.

 

[Chewy]

<modsnip>

No worries.


Back on topic.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion...daum-brownbacktweet-20111201,0,5767062.column

 

[Fairy1]

I'm sorry but I had a feeling it was her family that contacted the media.

She was TOLD and refused. I'm still wondering why you are even bringing up something that did not happen.

She was rude and obnoxious and then her family contacted the media and she's a hero. Welcome to America folks.

I don't think his staff over reacted at all. I think the school did.

And all the people trying to turn this into a violation of Freedom of Speech. People are still overracting and IMO it's stupid.

She was rude. She said she said it to his face (yes she lied but that's what people were going on from the start) the Governor's office contacted the school. I doubt they would if she hadn't been on the school trip. And the school told her asked her etc to apologize. She refused and her sister contacted the media.

There is no story here.

I haven't seen any evidence that she's being heralded as a hero. I certainly don't view her as one. In fact, I hope she will learn many lessons as a result of this incident.

IMO, the Governor's staff overreacted and so did the school principal. It would have been in the best interests of everyone involved to handle the matter privately or just to let it pass.

We don't know if she was punished, as that would be up to her parents, really. We do know that the Governor's office attempted to bully a silly high school student into apologizing for something they never would have known about if they didn't have staffers trolling the Internet for any mention of his name. That's not okay with me.

We live in a world of social media which allows people to make immediate and highly public comments 24/7. I'm willing to bet many folks of all ages say things all the time they deeply regret once they've had time to chill out and think about it. It is what it is.

Rude and obnoxious teenagers are abundant. I didn't raise my children that way either, but not all parents are the same. Even so, we know nothing about this girl's parents. It's entirely possible they're horrified by her behavior.

 

[Chewy]

I guess I'm not sure if the Governor's office even asked for an apology. What difference would it make to the Governor. I would imagine they'd just ask for it to be taken down but they didn't do that. The school asked her to apologize I don't see any evidence that the Governor even KNEW about this issue. His twitter manager did it. NOT HIM.

And yes I agree, rude and obnoxious teenagers are abundant. And so unfortunately are the parents that make excuses for them.

If the Governor really did know about this, then that's one thing, but his statement says his "office staff" over reacted. He didn't personally apologize. I don't think he even knew about it until it was too late.

This could have been a teachable moment for the young woman in learning to be gracious once you mouth off. Which as you said we all do. Oh well.

 

[Fairy1]

I guess I'm not sure if the Governor's office even asked for an apology. What difference would it make to the Governor. I would imagine they'd just ask for it to be taken down but they didn't do that. The school asked her to apologize I don't see any evidence that the Governor even KNEW about this issue. His twitter manager did it. NOT HIM.

And yes I agree, rude and obnoxious teenagers are abundant. And so unfortunately are the parents that make excuses for them.

If the Governor really did know about this, then that's one thing, but his statement says his "office staff" over reacted. He didn't personally apologize. I don't think he even knew about it until it was too late.

This could have been a teachable moment for the young woman in learning to be gracious once you mouth off. Which as you said we all do. Oh well.

I doubt we'll ever know if the Governor actually knew about it before it hit the media. But let's be honest, it certainly wouldn't be the first time an elected official let his staff take the fall to save face if he did know and was, in fact, the one to demand an apology.

 

[Chewy]

I've worked on two election campaigns, and for government officials and half the time the head honcho has no idea what was going on. I'm sure the twitter manager is the one that called the school and she seems to stand by what she said. If I were him I'd be pissed and I'm wondering if she gets fired. At the same time the whole story gave him attention so maybe he's happy.

But I honestly don't see a Governor caring what a "twitter teen" says about him. I do see a "twitter manager" trying to scrub the internet of negative comments about him.

But I'm willing to be proven wrong.

 

[Fairy1]

I've worked on two election campaigns, and for government officials and half the time the head honcho has no idea what was going on. I'm sure the twitter manager is the one that called the school and she seems to stand by what she said. If I were him I'd be pissed and I'm wondering if she gets fired. At the same time the whole story gave him attention so maybe he's happy.

But I honestly don't see a Governor caring what a "twitter teen" says about him. I do see a "twitter manager" trying to scrub the internet of negative comments about him.

But I'm willing to be proven wrong.

Time will tell if any heads will roll.

But here we are back to the issue of free speech - IMO. I don't want to see any politicians working to "scrub" the Internet or any other vessel of communication of negative comments. That's a bit too close to censorship for my tastes. I would much rather see them WORKING to find solutions for whatever issues that might lead folks to make negative comments. Blatant abuses of power against teenagers isn't going to get the job done.

 

[Chewy]

Sure, I agree with that. Happens every single day millions of times. So I guess you ought to catch up on it.

Here's an site about "scrubbing the internet" to get you started. I'm not sure how good it is though.

http://www.scrubtheweb.com/

 

[Fairy1]

Sure, I agree with that. Happens every single day millions of times. So I guess you ought to catch up on it.

Here's an site about "scrubbing the internet" to get you started. I'm not sure how good it is though.

http://www.scrubtheweb.com/

No worries. I'll be happy to see stories like this one pop up from time to time in the hopes it will keep the b*s*a*d* honest (as they can be). Though I do wish we'd have had a more articulate warrior this time!

Complacency is our greatest enemy, IMO.

 

[ynotdivein]

Enough with the personal back-and-forth, baiting, and rudeness.

Stay on topic, be respectful to one another, and use the alert button as needed.