Different Day, Same Shit.

Some high school kid decides to cut loose among her friends on Twitter about what she would have said to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, and Brownback's staff decided to rake her over the coals for speaking her mind. If a man can't handle a teenage girl saying bad things about him (and truth be told, it was miles tamer than what less charitable mouths would have opined), then perhaps he needs to grow thicker skin. After all, no one has an obligation to be nice to someone 100% of the time, unless they're drawing a paycheck from said person.*

Then again, Emma Sullivan learned some valuable lessons in public discourse on-line.

• No matter how much the concept of free speech is espoused, there will always be a crybaby out there who's ready to shut down someone for talking bad about them.
• When said crybabies come out of the woodwork, you have to be ready to stand your ground and stand behind your words.

Fortunately, Emma stood her ground and refused to knuckle under to a bunch of knuckleheads. And the attendant publicity only made Brownback and his staff look like complete idiots and crybabies.

What gets me is that others have said far worse about Brownback, yet his staff chose to target a high school student for silencing. If that isn't the hallmark of a bully, I don't know what is.

And if you're in the mood for an opposing viewpoint that reads a lot like a messy Blue Dress session behind the governor's desk, read what Ruth Marcus has to say about Sullivan's tweets. Wear gloves.

*Or if that someone happens to have a drawn weapon. Your mileage may vary on that one.

There's a reason that tag exists.

Victim One, the first known alleged victim of abuse by former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky, had to leave his school in the middle of his senior year because of bullying, his counselor said Sunday.

Officials at Central Mountain High School in Clinton County weren’t providing guidance for fellow students, who were reacting badly about Joe Paterno’s firing and blaming the 17-year-old, said Mike Gillum, the psychologist helping his family. Those officials were unavailable for comment this weekend.

The name-calling and verbal threats were just too much, he said.

Kids can be natural-born assholes, especially if the school environment allows such asshole/fuckwad behavior to exist unabated, more so if they're egged on by adult teachers and administrators who lack the mental maturity to not include themselves in the bullying.

And definitely if they choose to ignore what goes on in the classrooms, hallways, etc.

The parents? If they choose to be non-supportive and either ignore or ridicule their kids when they're being bullied, they become as culpable as the school faculty and staff.

And people wonder why children as young as 10 are choosing to leave this world and their problems behind.

Something Awful has a great thread on bullying, starting with the story of another (yes, another) 10-year-old who committed suicide thanks to horrifically systemic bullying. Some of the stories there will bring you to tears and impotent anger. It may even trigger some bad memories, so be careful.