Blog Post #3 - Eight Values of Expression

  

The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly and the right to petition. It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely. In the First Amendment there are eight values of free speech which are marketplace of ideas, participation in self government, stable change, individual self-fulfillment, check on governmental power, promoting tolerance, promoting innovation, and protecting dissent. These values all play into why freedom of speech is so important. Out of the eight values the one that resonates with me the most is individual self-fulfillment. This is because I do agree with the fact that free speech enables individuals to express themselves which then allows them to create and craft their own identity. Also through this freedom of speech is intertwined with the aspects of human dignity, human agency and autonomy. I agree with everything that is stated and it is true that people's freedom of speech also lies with their values and how they feel about themselves and others around them. These values can be seen and are prevalent in everyday life. For example the Individual Self-Fulfillment value was most obvious during the protests regarding Black Lives Matter. People were out on the streets expressing their opinions and ideas on the Black Lives Matter movement and what they thought was right. Many people came together to support a cause that they fully and completely believed in and they wanted to fight for the black community. I believe that if this was limited people would not have been able to protest in the way that they were all around the world or even at all. I do believe that not only through this movement but through this value that diverse groups of people are able to come together and have a sense of community. Another one of the eight values that can be seen in our society is the promotion of tolerance. Through the promotion of tolerance it has been argued that the freedom of speech, especially through our practice of extending protection to speech that we find hateful or personally upsetting, teaches us to become more tolerant in other aspects of life. This value can be seen in our society through the legalization of same sex marriage. Before the law was passed making this legal people were extremely intolerage of people in same-sex relationsips and especially same-sex marriage. Now that a law has been passes people who choose to be homosexual can express themselves and not be discriminated for it because it is legal. But there will always be the outliers who break the idea of being tolerant. It can be seen that not only through just these two values I chose to emphasize but through all eight that there are many aspects and ideas that lie within the first amendment to ensure that we are all able to have our freedoms. These ideas ensure that everyone can have a voice in our society and so we can all feel free under the first amendments.