Earlier this week a Shawnee Mission East senior, Emma Sullivan, tweeted negatively about Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, attracting national attention.

Her tweet read as follows:

“Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot”

People from Brownback’s team read this while patrolling social media sites for mention of the governor, which led to Sullivan’s principal asking her to apologize by letter.

Through the power of social media, Sullivan’s tweet found its way to my feed after a friend of mine retweeted it Monday after school. I scrolled further down my feed to see that NPR had already tweeted about it too. A high school senior’s tweet caused national news? Furthermore, a stupid tweet saying someone “sucked” made national news?

Ok, while what she said about him may probably be true (as his overreaction to this incident proves), a comment this immature and ridiculous hardly deserves a response.

She’s not saying anything particularly controversial or necessarily extremely offensive. She doesn’t challenge anything he’s done as governor. She merely is insulting him the same way my middle school aged brother might.

You need to realize, Governor, you’re rubber, and she’s glue. Whatever she says should bounce right off of you.

The governor has probably dealt with a lot more pointed and harsh criticisms in his career, so I’m confused why he’s so sensitive to this immature insult.

What influence does this girl (who had only 65 followers at the time) carry that Brownback is so concerned about?

He could have let it go and let less than 65 people read her tweet about him, but instead, he called the nation’s attention to what was said about him.

I’m glad this girl isn’t backing down from her comment, stupid sounding as it may be. She has a right to say what she likes on whatever platform she chooses. However, she’s hardly the first amendment champion she’s proclaiming to be.

What do you think? Comment below with your reactions.