Folks entitled to their rude, unbecoming web postings

-- Greek poet Hesiod, 8th century BC

An alarming number of us, especially those who wallow in the blogosphere's slop, tend to embrace bad manners, vulgarity and uncivil discourse as evidence of unchained intellect. They confuse passion with a childish lack of discipline. Perhaps that is why they so adore little Emma Sullivan.

Emma is a mouthy 18-year-old senior at Shawnee Mission East High School in Kansas -- a champion of the left and a poster girl for crudity. Ms. Sullivan managed to corral national headlines when she proudly trashed -- Surprise! -- conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback on Twitter during a school-sponsored Kansas Youth in Government field trip to Topeka, where Brown spoke.

"Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot," she tweeted her friends.

The "mean comments," it turns out, were figments of her teenage imagination, but that did not deter her from basking in the bright media glare. As young as she is, she already senses celebrity is an end, not a byproduct of accomplishment nowadays. By mid-week, tweeting as emmakate988, she went from a virtual unknown in a galaxy of unknowns on Twitter to boasting 15,731 "followers."

Her tweet steamed Brownback's underlings and they called her school demanding an apology -- instead of being smart and simply writing her off as a goofy teenager. The school demanded an apology, but quickly gave up. Emma, predictably, wrapped herself in the First Amendment and refused to apologize. And the governor blinked, cutting his losses.

"My staff overreacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize," Brownback said. "Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms."

The First Amendment arguments in all this mostly are settled. Emmakate988 had the right to say what she did. The school had the right to demand an apology. Brownback's staff had the right to be ticked off. Brownback had the right -- and good sense -- to bail out while the bailing was good. But all of that begs the point. Everybody had rights -- but why did it happen?

While we teach our children rights, we do not clog their little heads with notions of responsibility. Sure, Sullivan had the right to call the governor a nasty name, but what of her responsibility as a young adult, a citizen, to act in a civil manner, especially when it comes to her elders and, forgive me, her betters?

We fail to tell our children that because they can does not mean they should. Too many of us fail to set boundaries; too many of us are raising wolves.

You would think her parents would be mortified. You'd be wrong. Here's what they told The Associated Press: "It's the speech they use today," Julie Sullivan said. "It's more attention-grabbing. I raised my kids to be independent, to be strong, to be free thinkers. If she wants to tweet her opinion about Gov. Brownback, I say for her to go for it and I stand totally behind her."

How very progressive. "It's the speech they use today," as if that were a good thing, as if strength and independence and free-thinking were rooted in baseness; as if being a boor were laudable. As for the unrepentant Emma, "I would do it again," she said. No doubt.

Had my sons had been so puerile, the wrath of an angry father would have ensured they apologize, and quickly; that they be men and deliver it face-to-face. Character is taught. We get from our children only what we demand. Nowadays, too many demand nothing.

In a scene in Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men," Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, played by Tommy Lee Jones, is talking to another old sheriff who is complaining about kids nowadays walking around with green hair and the implications. Bell agrees and says, "But I think once you quit hearing 'sir' and 'ma'am,' the rest is soon to foller."

Ed Tom was right. Hesiod, history shows us, was wrong. His civilization survived its children. So will ours.

It's too bad it will not survive with anything resembling class.

#thatblowsalot.

Paul Jenkins is editor of the AnchorageDailyPlanet.com.