The marketplace of ideas is something I would love to delve deeper into. My personal value is truth. I seek to find it in all things, and I aspire to cultivate a culture of truth in the world someday. I think in the past, journalism has had a strong reputation for truth, but today this is greatly tested. The truth is becoming seemingly harder to seek out in everyday life and if the truth is present, it is often buried beneath biases and opinion.
The topic this week is very interesting because it pertains to some very critical aspects of the American lifestyle and the American government. The principle I find to resonate the most is due to the current climate of the world and the fact that we are just over a month away from a critical election. Participation in Self-Government is so incredibly important, and something that all Americans should honor and take very seriously. Democracy is great because it represents its people. Freedom of speech allows us the ability to have a voice in who leads our country.
Along with this is the next principle: stable change. As citizens, we are able to voice our distaste and opinions through speech, writing, and protest. This theory predicts that by allowing individuals to voice their stances, less violence will ensue. This is perhaps a bit questionable with the current state of the world, but I still believe that this is an important theory.
The theory of self-fulfillment and self-actualization is at the heart of our desires as people. We tend to flock to those who share our mindsets, and freedom of speech allows us to find likeminded people. Some people view this behavior as prejudicial or non-accepting, but I think it is human nature to prefer the company of those who share your values and beliefs.
Check on governmental power is so important as this is what differentiates the United States government from other governments. We have the ability under the freedom of speech to question abuse of power and ensure the check-and-balance system of government is upheld.
The next theory is to promote tolerance. This theory teaches that through freedom of speech we are more tolerant of others. The freedom of speech protects hate speech with hopes that through understanding and learning from these actions, we become a more tolerant society.
Promote innovation, to me, is an obvious aspect of freedom of speech. Through the sharing of ideas, we all can become inspired and brainstorm off of one another. This is a great benefit of having an open forum of creativity.
Finally, protecting dissent is one of the most important aspects of the freedom of speech. Minorities have the right to voice opinions. Citizens have a right to voice distaste with the government. According to this definition, it is our duty to criticize the government if we disagree.
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