Eight Values of Free Expression

    While in class the past few weeks, we got to discuss the first amendment and how  free speech is where people have the ability to express themselves with some type of limits on them. The Eight Values of Free Expression are:

1. Marketplace of Ideas

2. Participation in Self Government

3. Stable Change

4. Individual Self Fulfillment 

5. Check on Government Power

6. Promote Tolerance

7. Promote Innovation

8.Protect Dissent

    Each of these Eight Values of Free Expression are incredibly important to humans. Each one is different but all work in similar ways so we can express our free speech. It is hard to comprehend a world without these values. It makes one think about how grateful we are. 

Stable Change

    In our society, we have the ability to "rant or vent" to the government peacefully. We do this because we don't want to release violence or aggressive anger that goes against our freedoms. The stable change allows for governments to look out for groups that could be more dangerous to others. 

    The Montgomery Bus Boycott is an example of stable change. After the arrests of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. took a nonviolent route and boycotted 13 months of Montgomery Buses. Martin Luther King Jr. and many others used nonviolent protests to end racial segregation. Later the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses is unconstitutional and the win went to many as well as Marin Luther King Jr. 

Individual Self Fulfillment

    Free speech allows for people to express themselves in different ways as well as figure out who they are as a person. We have the ability to communicate because it is a fundamental right all humans have. Humans can express emotions, morals, beliefs, and boundaries they have to show they have a place in society. 

    I love taking pictures and videos of people landscapes, food, and sports (website here). I am incredibly passionate about having my own creativity to work with. Taking photos and videos allow for visual expression and for me to communicate what I believe in with pictures or film. Free speech allows for me to tell, share, and document my ideas and work, with different people as well as social media. Yes, there are limits and rules to what I do, but ultimately I am allowed to have creative freedom of what I carry out and say to people.

Participation in Self Government

    I believe that we have the ability to make wise choices and opinions based on the candidates that are presented to the public. There has to be free speech for a candidate to say whatever they want to say, including the ability to criticize the current government and how it works. That is a fundamental requirement in order to have fair elections. 

    I think this is important because of our ability to vote and know what is going on with the world around us. Each person has individual opinions based on their beliefs and morals. In order for us to know who to vote for, the candidate has to present everything they believe in.