The Semiotics of Emma Sullivan

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I’m so late to this story that I might as well be blogging about the evils of the tin trust or something, but there’s an aspect of the whole Emma Sullivan story that I don’t get. Emma Sullivan, of course, is the Kansas teenager who went on a field trip to the state capitol, listened to some remarks from Governor Sam Brownback, and tweeted:

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

The governor’s staff went ballistic, Sullivan’s school principal demanded she apologize, the governor and the principal eventually backed down, Sullivan became an internet hero for a few minutes, and Ruth Marcus was appalled. “If you were my daughter,” she wrote in the Washington Post, “you’d be writing that letter apologizing to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback for the smartalecky, potty-mouthed tweet you wrote after meeting with him on a school field trip.”

But forget all that for a moment. Forget the overreaction from the authorities, Sullivan’s unlikely stardom, or Marcus’s fainting couch performance. What I’m curious about is this: does anybody seriously have a problem with a teenager saying that somebody sucks? Or blows? That doesn’t even qualify as crude language these days, let alone foul language, does it? It’s just everyday teenager language. Am I mistaken to think that you could say something sucks in a high school classroom and not even get a titter, let alone a smackdown from most teachers? What am I missing here?

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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