Based on the blog post from Prof Smith's blog
The eight values of free speech is an important list of arguments supporting the validity of providing free speech to the people and removing any government interference. It struck a chord with me because there were multiple values within the list which I have found first-hand benefits from. Out of the eight what stuck out to me the most was the argument that freedom of speech increases tolerance.
I grew up in a place where most people I met shared similar political views to my parents, meaning I had no reason to question what I was brought up learning. Everything I thought I knew was just repeated back to me and constantly supported over and over again. This made it difficult to truly see and appreciate anything new or different, as I most often wrote it off as bad. Not to say that the ideas I grew up with were wrong, but the lack of any other ideas almost villainized anything that didn’t align with what I was used to. As I grew up, I was able to use social media more and this opened up avenues for me to grow and learn far more about the world and people with different views and experiences to me. I learnt about struggles that I had never considered and heard from people who knew all about things I’d never even heard of. The freedom of speech that is allowed with social media made me significantly more tolerant because of this new insight. So I relate the most to the tolerance value as it is the one I have felt take the most drastic change on my life. It is vital to hear from different people even if you don’t agree with them.
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| I no longer think these values can be quantified as much as people would like them to be |
Another value of free speech that I found important is the value to self govern. Going back to how rigid my worldview was previously I had no idea the majority of differing political views or truly the full breadth of what each political party entailed. When I was younger I could have confidently told you which political party I was closely affiliated with because I didn’t have the most informed opinion on either party. Now I don’t associate with either party, I simply vote for whichever candidate I agree with the most. There are just too many factors to treat any one party as the one I agree wholly with and it baffles me when people wholeheartedly support one party without question simply because they agree with a select few points the party supports.
These two are the most important in my personal opinion because of how much I have felt the impact of them in my life. I also think many others, including protecting dissent (because of the role it plays in keeping the government in check https://inclo.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Defending-Dissent-Executive-Summary.pdf ) and the importance of self fulfillment (because of how important it is that the individual can discover their own identity). The only one I don’t agree with fully is the discovery of truth. I find this one harder to believe because there is so much misinformation out there spread by hateful rhetoric and people will choose to believe whatever they need to in order to unite against an enemy or to feel like they are part of a cause. The truth may come out, but it isn’t always heeded. This article provides more context as to where I’m coming from. https://www.apa.org/topics/journalism-facts/how-why-misinformation-spreads
Overall I greatly appreciate free speech for the role it has played in my life and I am so grateful to have such a valued right in the country I call home.
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