8 Values Of Free Expression

 The first of the eight values of free expression are market place of ideas. This refers to the idea that a license should not be required to publish or print something. There are many examples of this in the modern world. There are a multitude of websites like Wordpress where anyone can make their own website and start publishing content in minutes. All that is required is an email address and a username plus a password- the same things needed for any social media site, which means everyone is able to use it. I feel like this is one of the most important values because it allows everyone to have a voice, easily in this modern age. 

The second is participation in self government. Citizens must be informed about all policies to be able to make a well informed decsion about the canidate or canidates they are selecting for office. One example of this is political ads. Each canidate usually lists what office they are running for, why they are qualified and what platform or issues they are running on. They have debates and interviews with other political parties and news outlets. The citizens who are voting have free access to this with the politicians speaking their mind without government interference. Thus, American citizens are able to make a well informed choice about who they choose to support. 

The third is stable change. This allows citizens to freely vent about the government without fear of retaliation. An example of this is fringe groups like people who believe Bush did 9/11, or those that think school shootings are faked by the government for gun control. Allowing these people to vent about such things makes them feel like they are being heard and the government can moniter them to make sure they do not do anything violent. Their views may not be agreed with by some, but that does not mean they do not deserve a voice assuming it is not hurting anyone else. 



The fourth is individual self fulfillment. People are allowed free speech as their right to express their identity. This applies to things such clothing because that is part of self expression. An example of free speech as a sense of identity is the legalization of gay marriage. While not everyone agreed with this display of self expression, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of it as it was their right to free speech. 

The fifth is check on government power. The public as well as the press is part of the check and balance system to keep the government from overstepping. This applies to government overreach as well as the actions of the President deemed to be inappropriate for someone in office. An example of this is the publics reaction to former President Trump. He would often tweet inflammatory remarks about everyone from his political opponets to people he did not like. News outlets and the public were quick to call him out for doing so whenever he did, as that was not behavior befitting of a President and representative of America. 



The sixth is promoting tolerance. This applies to free speech, which does not allow for speech that is hateful toward others. If a person posts racist opinions or something offensive, the platform that they posted it on can remove the post. It would not be a violation of free speech as the first amendment does not apply to hate speech. Similar to check on government power, Twitter banning former President Trump for his tweets is not a violation of his free speech as he had posted hateful things about people and did not follow the community guidelines. 

The seventh is promote innovation. This relates to free speech as the citizens will be more creative with the freedom to express their thoughts. Free speech allows for the free spread of ideas and research that silencing citizens would not. The US is a leader in innovation compared to Iraq or North Korea which have oppressive governments without free speech. Free speech promotes innovation and is for the betterment of society not only in the country it is allowed in but the whole world which could benefit from advances in technology, medicine, or new ideas. 

The eighth is protect dissent. This protects a person when expressing a view that is not the majority. It is a right to disagree with the government or the majority opinion. An example of this is the war in Afghanistan. People heavily disagree with the way Joe Biden choose to leave Afghanistan and the people that lived there. American citizens were left stranded and thousands of pieces of military equipment was left for the Taliban when they took back over. Critisizing him and how he handled the situation is protected under the first amendment without retaliation. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Age Of AI Reflection

Image
 There are many positives to artificial intelligence and machine learning. It can be used to automate boring tasks that human do, like putting a car together or doing complex math problems. This will make the task more effiecient as well as faster, without the risk of human error. We can do more while taking less time. AI provides many oppurtunitys to people who might otherwise be left without, like self driving cars for those that can not afford them or medical diagnosis quicker than humans can see. It also poses many risks as well. AI facial reconizition is used to unlock your phone, pay for groceries, and find who did a crime. This is convient, but comes with risks. AI can be used by the government to track people like they do in China . It can be hacked and used against ordinary people. It can mean a barrier against identity theft, but because of AI we also have deep fakes that can seen exactly like the person it is imitating. AI can use your information that it learns from you to
Read more

What I Learned About The Phonograph

Image
 During the EOTO presentations, I learned about the phonograph from someone else. I found this really interesting as phonographs were a precursor to the CD player. A phonograph is an early machine that produced sound as well as recording through cylinders. It reproduces sound through the vibration of a needle following  groves in a disk. It is also known as a record player. It was created by Thomas Edison in 1877. He created this by combining his previous inventions of the telegraph and telephone. The machine was used in World War 1 by the Army. The phonograph was popular from the 1890s up until the World War 1 era.   The first recordings were made by Edison by making indentations on a piece of tinfoil, which was then wrapped around a cylinder to be played. It was redeveloped over the years by Edison and others to produce better results. Columbia Records produced the long playing record in 1948 which could play for 30 minutes on each side of the record. Phonographs had 5  main compon
Read more

What I Learned About 5 Eyes

Image
During the class presentations I learned about the organization 5 Eyes. It is an intelligence organization made up of The United States, Britian, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The purpose of this group is to share intelligence among themselves. It was  first formed in 1946 after World War 2. Its first intention was preventing the Russians from learning American secrets. It then grew with the inclusion of Australia, New Zealand and Canada.  There are many different intelligence sharing groups like NATO, but it is not equal to Five Eyes. Because of the shared language and interests, information sharing between the nations involved in the organization is more effective than other organizations that might include many countries with conflicting interests. They moniter each others citizens for intelligence, a fact that was relativly unknown until it was exposed  by Edward Snowden in 2013.  % Eyes has been helpful in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. In a report by CNN they say &quo
Read more