Eight Values of Free Expression (BLOG POST #3)

Stable Change, the idea that a society in which angry and alienated individuals are allowed to speak their minds will be more stable and less violent, is one of the eight values of free expression that resonates with me deeply. As a nation, it should be our goal to keep unprovoked violence to a minimum. For example, when The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, marches and protests erupted all over the nation. However, there were no riots or violence involved. I firmly believe we were able to avoid violence in this scenario because we allowed our citizens to voice their frustrations publicly. However, this idea of Stable Change doesn't always perform as expected. Following the October 7th attacks on Israel in 2023 universities all across the country experienced student-led protests. Early on these protests were just protests but as time went on, a lot of them turned into antisemitic battlegrounds. According to the Anti-Defamation League's website, the 2023-2024 ADL report found that anti-Israel activism on U.S. campuses reached 2,087 incidents which included assault, vandalism, and harassment. This was a 477% increase in those categories from the same period in 2022-2023. Unfortunately, we could not eliminate violence by letting individuals speak their minds in this scenario as we did when the Roe v. Wade protests began. 

I feel as though Individual Self-Fulfillment is the most personal value of free expression to me. As someone who has views that vary greatly from almost every other person in my family, having the freedom to voice my differing opinions was integral in forming the person I am today; politically and personally. Individual Self-Fulfillment is defined as the following: free speech enables individuals to express themselves and thereby create their own identity- and, in the process perhaps, find kindred spirits. Freedom of speech thus becomes an aspect of human dignity, human agency, and autonomy. Throughout my journey from adolescence to adulthood, I have been able to connect with those who have similar opinions to mine and come to somewhat of a middle ground with my family on certain topics like gun control and the decriminalization of marijuana. Without freedom of speech, I could have spent my whole life agreeing with whatever my family believed to be right or wrong and never hearing a differing opinion. 

We have the ability, in America, to disagree with the majority opinion or any opinion. The purpose of this is to prevent a mob rule from forming and taking over our democracy. When there is a Republican president in the Oval Office Democrats can still freely speak about their issues with the President and vice versa. This value is known as Protection of Dissent and I see it in action every day in the America we now live in. When Donald Trump was President from 2017 to 2021 it felt like every social media platform had turned into a political forum. There was no social media site you could visit that didn't have hundreds and hundreds of posts disagreeing with the actions and values of the President, all of which were protected under the First Amendment as long as they didn't incite violence or defame him.