There are eight values of free expression. The first value is the Marketplace of Ideas. This value is very important for me because it helps the best ideas to be brought forward. This means that many ideas will compete against each other and the best one will gain broad acceptance by the general public. For example, if one person wants to pass a law that banned a product and someone else wants to keep them around, they would have the opportunity to debate these ideas and ultimately the one which people agree with will be successful.
The value feels the most personal to me is protecting dissent. In order for a society to even be able to discuss the most basic ideas, people need to be comfortable in sharing their ideas. Therefore, a society where minority views are not allowed will have a great lack of new ideas as well as respect for others.
An idea being popular or unpopular shouldn’t matter when having discussions. The right for every person to be able to voice their ideas is a tremendous thing.
Protecting dissent is particularly important when it comes to political issues. There are many situations where the vast majority of people may be on one side. If all minority views were suppressed, the country may well end up making the wrong decision.
A value that I believe is in action today is Check on Governmental Power. This means that by utilizing the rights within the First Amendment, people can be a check on government overreach. Checks and balances are important because they prevent a particular branch of the government from going too far in exercising authority over the people.
An example of this value in action is during the COVID restrictions where particular government officials were caught violating their own rules. In such situations, the information was able to be widely reported due to freedom of the press. Historically this has also been important because of other scandals.
The First Amendment ensures many freedoms including the Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech. These freedoms are essential in a democracy. This is because Freedom of Speech allows people to criticize their government and discuss these scandals. The Freedom of the Press is important because it allows the media to publish these stories about scandals.
These theories can be applied to social media. For example, Twitter was used to launch the campaign of Ron DeSantis for president. This relates to the value of Individual Self Fulfillment because people who support him were able to gather virtually in order to promote this message. Individual Self Fulfillment is made possible by the First Amendment, particularly with Freedom of Speech.
In a country that didn’t have Freedom of Speech, a campaign against a leader couldn’t happen so publicly and be allowed to happen. The rights that are promised in The Constitution allowed this free discussion. Every person being able to choose their own opinions as well as discuss them is part of what makes a free society.
Sources
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/05/24/politics/ron-desantis-fec-filing-2024/index.html
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