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.