Blog #3

 Eight Values of Free Expression

The Eight Values of Free Expression all are valued in different ways by different people. Personally Individual Self-Fulfillment resonated with me the most. This value holds a lot of focus on being able to express your true feelings about what you believe in. This is important to me because there have been many times that my opinion does not agree with ones of my friends, family or classmates and I enjoy speaking my opinions. One way I relate this value to things going on in the world today is through former president Donald Trump’s social media presence and followers presence. It is quite obviously seen that social media platforms control what is seen and posted on their platforms, in fact Donald Trump does not even hold a profile for many social media platforms because of what he has posted in the past. To me this is an extreme violation of expression of feelings towards the former president.

In this article by Politico it is stated how there is a level of discrimination towards conservatives speaking for the trump administration but are not doing the same thing for people on the other side. A quote from the president states  “....Too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad, and that cannot be allowed to happen. Who is making the choices, because I can already tell you that too many mistakes are being made. Let everybody participate, good & bad, and we will all just have to figure it out!” The value of Individual Self-Fulfillment is not shown in this aspect towards people who support Trump's administration because they are not capable of expressing how they feel because it is getting taken down. Another value I believe can be related to this topic is Protect Dissent. This value states that you have a protected right to not agree with the government no matter how unpopular or popular your views may be. This does not seem to be the case or is getting reworked to be in favor for those taking down these posts on social media which is also something that should not be occurring. 

Another reason I feel like it is important for everyone to hold high value on Individual Self-Fulfillment is because in our day in age it is hard to draw the line between how we have the freedom to say what we want but also have the ability to say what we want while hiding behind a screen. Within the first amendment you have a freedom of speech but that does not always mean that what you are saying does not hurt someone. Since social media is growing exponentially it is becoming more obvious that people are saying things with fake usernames and profiles to express opinions or feelings they would not have if it was face to face. With that also being said it is important for everyone with social media presence to be aware of the fact that you have a freedom of speech but morals should also be in place and that freedom does not get walked all over.