Freedom of Expression (Key)


 

    The eight values of free expression show the ideal model for truly "free" speech. Unfortunately, many people do not agree that speech should be entirely free. For instance, Twitter permanently suspended the account of Donald Trump after his presidential term ended. 

The value of participation in self-government has been violated here, as despite the controversies surrounding the former president he was still a candidate as well as public figure. His suspension made it a channel of information about his views and policies was lost. In the debate of what is and is not free speech, social media and the internet in general are a particular focal point due to these platforms being comprised almost entirely of speech. Another value of free expression that has lost meaning in the modern age is the value of protecting dissent. A prime example of this is multiple social media platforms removing and banning accounts that pushed ivermectin as a cure for covid-19. While it is in the interest of private companies to protect their platforms (as well as being fully within their rights to do so), the claims of ivermectin curing covid-19 were not necessarily disproved at the time, making this a violation of free expression. Outside of defamation, misinformation is technically protected as free expression and free speech. The value of government checks from the media has also been somewhat abandoned, as today's media is little more than propaganda. During the Trump presidency, broadcasters like Fox praised the president unconditionally, while other broadcasters such as CNN were extremely critical of the president. This has flip flopped during the Biden presidency, with Fox being overly critical and CNN having little to no criticism of the president. The values that are the most important to me are the promotion of innovation and the marketplace of ideas. I feel these values are crucial to society, as without them the world would simply stagnate and nothing would have real value anymore. The marketplace of ideas is rapidly fading with the rise of social media, as people who do not agree with a certain viewpoint simply block it out or report the post to have it removed from the website entirely. A prime example of this decline is the recent removal of dislike counts on Youtube videos, making it so people can essentially no longer disagree on the website. This change was made to "create an inclusive and respectful environment" which is the opposite of the marketplace of ideas, in which opposing views are meant to clash against one another, with the truth coming out victorious. This change does however promote tolerance to a certain degree, but tolerance is different from being forced to tolerate something. In conclusion, free expression in many parts of America is rapidly declining, and unfortunately shows no signs of stopping.

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