The Eight Values of Free Expression

The Eight Values of Free Expression is a list of some of the ways free speech is important to our society. Here's some of my opinions and impressions while reading through the list.

If I had to choose, I believe that Protecting Dissent is the most important value here. Being able to challenge popular or government-encouraged views without legal consequences is an essential part of free speech. Historically, places where the government couldn't be questioned or criticized without legal consequence were not nice places to live. It also links closely with the idea of Stable Change, where if people are able to properly express their dissent in a meaningful way, it could "get it out of their system" to prevent more extreme measures from being taken down the line.

The Marketplace of Ideas is an interesting one to me, since I believe that the idea that truth will always win out against lies is questionable at best. In reality, people tend to flock to information that best affirms their existing beliefs, rather than a genuine search for truth. However, by no means does that mean that the government should be able to censor false information (especially in situations where "true" and "false" can get pretty complicated). I think Twitter has the right idea with Community Notes, where users can add clarification to or "correct" a potentially misleading post without altering or censoring the original post, and it encourages viewers to do their own research.

 Things get more complicated in general wherever social media is brought up since, as private companies, they aren't obligated to uphold the first amendment. Censorship and fact checking on social media as a whole is a pretty contested topic, but I won't spend too much time on it since it's a different discussion entirely. 

Personally, I think that Promoting Tolerance seems like a bit of a misnomer, since the value isn't saying we should all be forced to just tolerate hateful or otherwise inflammatory ideas, but rather seems to be more about being able to see such beliefs openly and uncensored so as to have meaningful discussions about and, if necessary, criticism of such beliefs, which overall is more productive than outright censorship.

A recent issue that's been on everyone's minds lately is the TikTok ban. Though I never used TikTok myself out of data usage concerns among other reasons, I acknowledge that people should have the freedom to make their own choices regarding their privacy and what companies they're willing to conduct business with. One source proposes that the ban might not be such a bad thing, citing improvements in productivity and social life, but deciding to distance yourself from the app should be a personal choice, not one made for you by the government. This aligns with the value of individual self-fulfillment, where people have the freedom to choose how and on what platforms they can express themselves and receive information others have shared. 

Although I think it's probably not the best idea from a practical standpoint, I do find Americans using their right to expressive action to flock to Rednote in protest of the TikTok ban somewhat entertaining. But then again, who cares about questionable terms and conditions when trying to prove a point?  

These values prove why free speech is so important, and there's many examples of each one in everyday life and news.