The First and Second Values of Free Expression
In listening to professor Smith talk about the Eight Values of Free Expression, I was immediately drawn to and intrigued by the first two values. In defining them and giving examples, I was opened up to some new thoughts and ideas about free speech that I had never even considered before. This page on our class website is where all the original definitions come from.
The first of the eight values is referred to as the marketplace of ideas, originating from the Abraham's case of 1919. This is the value that if the government censors any of your ideas or written or spoken words, it is forcefully disrupting the market of all ideas. To me this was fairly interesting because I had never really thought of the exchange and creation of thoughts and ideas as a market of ever-changing and shared ideas. I also never thought of how detrimental it may be to allow for a disruption in such a market. Using the stock market as a comparison, if there were to be some external disruption of the stock market, the market itself would be thrown into a difficult situation that I would have to deal with, and thus would be essentially the same for the marketplace of ideas.
I was also drawn to the second of the eight values. This value is referred to as Participation in self-Government. This value essentially states that, if we the people, everyday citizens, are not allowed to speak freely and give our own opinions about government operations and officials, then we are being denied our part in government, and in turn we are not a democracy anymore. Just letting that thought sink in is a bit disturbing. It is essential that we have the right to be able to speak our minds, whether in a positive or negative manner, in order to keep this country running as the democracy it was created to be multiple centuries ago. Our right to participate in Government is what keeps every part of the system in check, from the President all the way down to the individual.
The other values were interesting to me, yet these two really stood out to me and peaked my interest.
The first of the eight values is referred to as the marketplace of ideas, originating from the Abraham's case of 1919. This is the value that if the government censors any of your ideas or written or spoken words, it is forcefully disrupting the market of all ideas. To me this was fairly interesting because I had never really thought of the exchange and creation of thoughts and ideas as a market of ever-changing and shared ideas. I also never thought of how detrimental it may be to allow for a disruption in such a market. Using the stock market as a comparison, if there were to be some external disruption of the stock market, the market itself would be thrown into a difficult situation that I would have to deal with, and thus would be essentially the same for the marketplace of ideas.I was also drawn to the second of the eight values. This value is referred to as Participation in self-Government. This value essentially states that, if we the people, everyday citizens, are not allowed to speak freely and give our own opinions about government operations and officials, then we are being denied our part in government, and in turn we are not a democracy anymore. Just letting that thought sink in is a bit disturbing. It is essential that we have the right to be able to speak our minds, whether in a positive or negative manner, in order to keep this country running as the democracy it was created to be multiple centuries ago. Our right to participate in Government is what keeps every part of the system in check, from the President all the way down to the individual.The other values were interesting to me, yet these two really stood out to me and peaked my interest.
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