Values of Free Expression

Stable Change

    When considering the eight values of free expression, the one that resonates most with me is the value of stable change that stresses the importance of enabling citizens to speak their mind. Specifically, it is based on the idea that if people are allowed to vent then they are less likely to resort to violence. This resonates with me because of its significance in US history with the way its restriction can lead to revolutions.

    Revolutions occur when the political system of a country does not respond to changes in society. The Revolutionary War is an example. The American Revolution took place in response to the despotic actions of the English monarchy towards the American colonies. As the Declaration of Independence states, "when a long train of abuses and usurpations... evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government." By restricting the colonists freedoms through the imposition of taxes without their consent, the impediment of their right to self-government, the removal of existing colonial legislatures, and other greivances, King George III repressed the colonists rather than allowing them to vent and be heard, inclining them towards the more violent response of revolution. 

Check on Government Power

This value seems to me to be the most important because it emphasizes the importance of the individual and the press speaking out against government infringment of our Constitutional rights. Government overreach is a serious issue that should always be addressed and confronted when it is discovered. One of the main ways this occurs both now and in the past is through whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsburg, Perry Fellwock, and Thomas Drake.

  

 Daniel Ellsburg was a military analyst who distributed The Pentagon Papers, to newspapers in 1971. The Pentagon Papers contained a study of US government involvement in the Vietnam War, and Ellsburg released them under the belief that the U.S government's decisions over Vietnam should be available to the public.

Perry Fellwock was an NSA analyst who revealed the existence of the NSA itself and its global surveillance network, which enabled it to play a role in the events of the Cold War without any public knowledge.

Thomas Drake was another employee of the NSA (a former senior executive), who revealed the use of the Trailblazer Project to collect intelligence over the internet. He believed that this program violated the privacy of the American consumer.

Individual Self- Fulfillment

    The value of individual self-fulfillment feels most personal to me because it relates to how freedom of speech allows for free expression and the creation of personal identity. I think this value has reverberating effects throughout society because free expression gives a person the ability to, first, discover who they are, and then to influence others through mediums like discussion, art, writing, music, fashion, etc. Without the freedom to hear alternative viewpoints and learn other people's values and beliefs, we would have no way to establish our own because we wouldn't be aware of any knowledge beyond what we had conformed to accept.  

Promoting Tolerance

Finally, the value that can often be seen in society today is that of promoting tolerance. The first amendment promotes tolerance by protecting hate speech and speech that is deemed personally offensive, which allows society to condemn wrongful behavior through the court of public opinion. An example of the first amendment protecting offensive forms of speech is the Supreme Court case Texas v. Johnson which ruled that flag burning was a form of expression, and as such, was speech that could not be prohibited, regardless of it being offensive to those who witnessed it.

    Another more modern day example of this value is the phenomenon of cancel culture, where individuals in the public or digital sphere are "canceled" for conduct or speech that is viewed as unacceptable in the eyes of the public. This would lead to public ridicule and the destruction of the individual's reputation. Cancel culture is the embodiment of this value's ability to establish social norms.