Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Key Blog Post- Eight Values of Free Expression

 The eight values of free expression through the first amendment are very important when it comes to freedom of speech and our civil freedoms as citizens. These freedoms are so important because, without the freedom of speech and freedom to express ourselves, we would live in a much different society and less of a democracy. I think the one value of the first amendment that resonates with me most right now as a college student is Individual Self-Fulfillment. I've heard it said by many people that colleges really where you find yourself and I think as a first-year college student individual self-fulfillment, aka self-actualization, Is a value that really resonates with me. 

Faculty at Oklahoma State University describe self-fulfillment as “Individual realization of character and potential as a human being means the right to form your own beliefs/opinions and the right to express those belief/opinions” I personally am only nineteen right now at this time and I think as I continue to grow in my knowledge of the first amendment and in my knowledge of life in general that I will come to know my character and who I can be in the future more because that we can express ourselves through self-fulfillment and it is protected by the first amendment.

The one value that I see as the most important would be participation in self-government because, without the citizen's participation and knowledge in government, there is a high chance that the government would look vastly different and possibly corrupted without the help and ideas of the citizens. Reporters and different media outlets can interview politicians and talk to even the president about different things that are happening in the government and without that we, citizens would not know anything about the policies that they're putting in place and the things that they're doing.  The first amendment allows non-politicians to go and understand what kind of policies are being made and what is happening within the country because of the importance of self-government. 

Protective dissent is the one value I see in the world using the most. I believe that many media sites such as the very big news casting TV stations criticize the government and force citizens to think about the laws being passed and the government's different actions, which creates criticism and possible hatred towards the government in many ways. I think that one way that protective dissent is available to practically everyone who owns a smart device is through social media you have a lot of people that will post their opinions about different governmental laws and thoughts on certain political figures that are protected by the First amendment right and you can see that first amendment is being used a lot through social media and that connects with us as college students directly. 

When we have talked about privacy in class it has been something that has been very interesting because it was not something that I was very well versed in and I did not know a lot about so the more that we learn about the ways that our privacy is being shared with many companies and even the FBI is scary and one of those social media platforms that take our information is TikTok and there has been a lot of feedback online. 

Through stable change which is a value of the first amendment people can actively pursue and push for a change in different media platforms one change that has been highly talked about the last year is the banning of TikTok in America and a recent poll done by The Washington Post claims that 41% of Americans would be for banning of TikTok in the US. People are allowed to have this opinion and conduct these studies because of the values of the first amendment and the ways that their speech is protected. 



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