Free Speech and Free Expression

"Marketplace of ideas" and "promoting innovation" are the two values that I think are most intertwined. A marketplace of ideas inherently promotes innovation and in order to have innovation you need to have a marketplace of ideas. All of the eight values of free expression fit together extremely well, but I believe these two cannot exist without each other. While these values are, of course, extremely important to our modern society, I don't believe they are the most integral to discuss. 

To me, "promote tolerance" is the most important value of free expression. We live in an age where everyone wants to be as inclusive as possible. A result of this is an extreme sensitivity when it comes to disagreeable speech. I feel that, as a society, we are forgetting the importance of protecting what you don't want to hear. If everyone is forced to think a certain way then we are bound to go nowhere as a society. While I understand the desire to be more inviting and accepting, I think that not protecting the right to what some people call hate speech could have dire consequences for our freedom of speech. I've always subscribed to the quote "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

The perfect example of this is Tyler VanderWeele, an epidemiology professor at Harvard’s public health school. VanderWeele shared his beliefs of opposition to gay marriage, causing an outcry from students demanding he be fired or reprimanded. Regardless of whether or not you agree with VanderWelle, there is no reason that he should be reprimanded. The idea that he should be inching dangerously close to the complete removal of freedom of speech. While I understand that Harvard is a private institution and thus it would not be unconstitutional to fire him, I believe if he was fired it would represent a shift into an unconstitutional mindset. An article from the New Yorker touches upon this situation as well, later describing how close-minded the classroom has become. Students have reported being weary of sharing opinions in the classroom out of fear of being reprimanded for their own beliefs. This is something I have experienced and witnessed in the modern age, particularly in a classroom setting. People no longer feel comfortable discussing important topics because nowadays saying a single wrong thing can cost someone their entire future.

Freedom of speech under the "promote tolerance" value is perhaps the most in danger on online platforms. Since these platforms want to retain their users they attempt to be as accepting of others as humanly possible. Combine this with the fact that social media platforms are privately owned and thus have the right to kick anyone off their platform at any time and you have a severe lack of freedom of speech. As a result, I would argue that social media has done just as much bad for freedom of speech as it has good. We live in an age where our words are immortalized online, and this can lead to gross consequences. It denies people the right to discuss their beliefs or ideas out of fear that they will be denied a place in society. It also denies people change, as no matter how you change or evolve as a person, everyone will likely judge you for things you have said in the past. The permanent digital footprint that we leave denies basic freedoms of speech, specifically that of promoting tolerance. 

The Supreme Court

    Something that I found quite surprising about the Supreme Court was that opinion writing takes the most time in the context of case rulings. The Supreme Court has to write its reasoning for any decision that it makes. This is an extremely important aspect of Supreme Court rulings as it is the only way that the Court's decision can be truly held up in other courts. The Supreme Court must explain how and why its decision is in line with the Constitution to help all lesser courts adhere to the same principles of the decision.

    The most important takeaway point about the Supreme Court is that the court is the supreme power in America. It has the power to overthrow any decision made by Congress if it deems it unconstitutional. This is a daunting piece of information that everyone should be aware of. Those who are placed on the Supreme Court are chiefly responsible for upholding your rights as an American citizen. 

    It was surprising to learn that the Supreme Court had ruled that slavery was constitutional and black people could never be citizens. While I understand that this extreme misjudgment was simply a product of its time and an attempt to keep the nation together under the Constitution, it is jarring to see just how extremely the Supreme Court can misjudge a ruling and just how harsh the consequences for our nation can be.

    The videos on the Supreme Court really humanized the whole process to me. Before this video, I hadn't researched individual justices as people, nor had I heard them converse with one another outside of the context of a case. I think hearing the justices talk to, disagree with, and joke with each other was a very beneficial thing for my understanding of the Supreme Court. The court is simply made up of people trying to do their best for their country. They often butt heads and they sometimes make mistakes, but in the end, the justices are all just people working towards the same goal.

Top 5 Sources of News

Youtube

The least diverse news that I get comes from YouTube. Typically, my YouTube is limited to content relating to video games. This is where I get information on new releases, controversies in the game
development field, and leaks of new hardware and software. 

Reddit

When it comes to world politics, Reddit is the place I get most of my news. Though I am ashamed to admit it, I find out about most world issues through memes on the internet. In many ways, it is my desire to be "in on the joke" that sparks my interest in further research. I do sometimes peruse the news section built into the app, but it's hard for me to take in because it is painfully biased and I find that I can't trust anything I read.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is where I do the majority of my research on politics and world issues. Whenever I see memes or videos on topics I feel a desire to do further research to understand. Another thing Wikipedia allows me to do is research without bias. I understand that most news I see is greatly biased by the reporter, so I often times feel untrusting of modern news. There are many times that, after further research on Wikipedia, I have discovered information being completely fabricated on the internet. I also feel a need to comment on Wikipedia's lack of commercial and private funding. I believe this is the reason that it is famously lacking in bias and focuses its writing on informing.

Spotify (Last Podcast on the Left)

I typically use Spotify to listen to podcasts, specifically one by the name of "Last Podcast on the Left." The hosts of the show typically cover true crime, historical events, the supernatural, and conspiracy theories. Luckily for everyone around me, the part of their show where I get my news is run in a different format. The podcast does a weekly show called "Side Stories" where they go over news, typically related to true crime. This is where I learned
about important court cases all the way up to the Supreme Court. As much as I do learn from this podcast, I always keep in mind that it is first and foremost an outlet for entertainment, not news.

ABC 11

Nowadays, I rarely look at local news, but if I do I watch ABC 11, the ABC outlet for the Raleigh-Durham area. ABC is a fairly unbiased news network so I feel fairly comfortable with believing what is being reported to me. In large part due to the violence in the area, specifically in parts of Durham, ABC 11 spends a lot of time reporting violence in the area. While this may not make me a particularly good American, I got tired of watching the news. I felt like everything I was taking in was about violence and shootings, I was tired of what my father would call "fear reporting." While I know that fear and violence sells and is important to learn about, I feel like I was flooded with it far too much from a young age and now I'm tired of it. It has led to me actively seeking out more positive news.