8 Values of Free Expression

 

The eight values of free expression play a crucial role in keeping society in line. These values give people freedom to freely express their thoughts and opinions without the fear of being censored by the government. The eight values include: marketplace of ideas, participation in self government, stable change, individual self fulfillment, check on governmental power, promote tolerance, promote innovation, and Protect dissent. After reading and learning more about these values, I feel that I resonate and feel the closest with Individual self fulfillment. Individual self fulfillment is an ongoing journey of an individual creating and shaping their own image. This value really allows you to express yourself freely and create your own personal identity. Personally, I use social media in many aspects of my life to create who I am to the public eye. When I was just seventeen years old, I started my own makeup business. I began with making small videos where I would post tutorials online, and teaching my friends some of my techniques. Now, I do makeup for weddings, photoshoots, and other various events. Though my business mostly relies on in person clientele and other various makeup jobs, a large portion of my business was marketing myself online. To keep this business up and running, it's crucial for me to post daily and weekly content to my social media platforms. Through the Individual self fulfillment value I am able to build and create my own image online without worrying about the government controlling what I post, or having a say about how I build my image. This is incredibly important to me because Instagram and TikTok are the main social media platforms I have been using to gain more followers and clientele. If I wasn’t able to post things that I wanted to and market myself online, my business would not be where it is today. Another value that I think is very important would be the Stable change value. This value makes the point that a society that lets people vent their opinions to create a less violent society. I think that this value is incredibly important and helpful when creating a stable environment to share opinions and solve issues amongst each other. I also feel that this one is seen in action the most today. Protests, free speech, and other various ways to express yourself have been heavily implemented in today's society so that people feel they can let off steam and express their opinion. By allowing this to happen instead of silencing everyone, more conversation and problem solving begins to occur. If everyone's opinions were silenced and cut off, anger and rage would arise amongst communities, and bigger issues would begin to spark.