EIGHT VALUES OF FREE EXPRESSION

    After reading all of the values of expression, one that resonates with me the most is the 4th value which is Individual Self-Fulfilment. The reason why I picked this one is because I feel like having your own individuality is important for multiple reasons. One of the big reasons is that if you can't think for yourself you can't form your own opinions. Being able to think for yourself is the one thing that separates people in good and bad ways, with good ways being in an artistic format while bad ways could potentially be political. Artistic people really are one of the best examples on a day-to-day basis in the sense that they're either coming up with their own works or they're making other existing works of art better. The reason why I say politics is bad is because sometimes false information gets put out and spreads like wildfire. That's due to fake news, and like I mentioned in a previous blog post about my top five news sources, finding trusted news sources is getting harder and harder to come by these days. That's why I really try to look for news sources that I trust and know that it's less of an entertainment source and more of an actual news station.

    How I connect this value to what we're learning about is, through prior knowledge. I remember in my AP government and politics class, a Supreme Court case I know about was Tinker v. Des Moines. In this case, the students wore black armbands to protest the war in Vietnam at the time. This was such a big deal especially since the school tried to violate their First Amendment right. Thankfully Tinker won the case and helped grant the right to freedom of expression for future generations. This information and more on the case is on the website Oyez.org which was a great source to use when I was taking the class as well as right for this class now. The world has grown exponentially in what we can and cannot express. We've become more and more accepting over the years and it really has benefited us as a nation. Even though there are some people who spread hate, the kindness and enjoyment of self-expression spread even further than any of their hate.

    How I feel this theory can help explain to people what's going on in the real world is, that everyone's self-expression is up to them. Self-expression helps fuel creativity throughout the world and without it, we'd all be the same and living the same lives. The real world is such a subjective phrase in the sense that everyone views the "real world" as something different. That's part of the main reason I chose this expression because to me everyone is different and that's what makes the world so great. However, there are some bad people who take their self-expression to the extreme (any form of terrorist, nationalist, racist, etc.), and these people ruin the idea of self-expression. Though it's important we are able to express ourselves, there comes a limit to what we should say and do sometimes. That's where the First Amendment comes in and helps decide what people can and cannot say through existing speech and threats that could seriously harm someone. The world is a tricky place, but knowing the right ways to express yourself could help you in the long run.