Blog #3 - Key Post - 8 Values of Free Expression

8 Values of Free Expression

I'm going to ramble and just see where this goes...

Idea One: A Marketplace of ideas

This was brought about by a man named John Milton. In the reading, it had a term referred to as Aeropagitica. Starting from the beginning, Milton had written a polemic that was basically a rant about the loveless marriage he was in. When he published it, the Parlement thought that it was too controversial and they decided to pull it. Aeropagitica was a book he wrote in response basically calling the government out on their censorship. That too mysteriously disappeared. It took people awhile to truly appreciate the book. 

So, how is this relevant today? It's simple, really. I unfortunately sometimes accidentally click the Facebook app, and there are a lot of older people on there. Usually, Facebook is a colossal mess full of hate, rage, and anger. A lot of said hate, rage, and anger is directed at the app itself for censoring them, and they think that the government has to do with it. It doesn't though, and it makes no sense how they think it does. It's the app that doesn't like certain posts that could be misleading. While the government protects everyone's views, apps are private entities so they can choose not to protect certain things they don't agree with. Now, if the government DOES have influence on things, that's a whole different issue but no one can definitively say wether the government has influence on making apps ban certain people or not.

It's relevant today also because former president Donald Trump was banned from pretty much all of his social media after some of his Twitter posts may have incited the coup on January 6th. They made it clear that he was banned for inciting violence and they wish their platforms not be used for such purposes. Twitter had slapped "these election claims are disputed" labels on Trump's tweets about the election since November.

Idea Four: Self Actualization

This one is interesting, and as a psychology student, I have seen this before. This is the top of the pyramid in Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. It's interesting that this wasn't mentioned in your little bit in the reading about it. 
Basically, Maslow theorized that we as humans need to fill our basic needs before we move onto psychological needs and self-fulfilling needs. Our basic needs are what's needed so our bodies don't die. Without food, water, keeping warm, or sleeping, our bodies could physically give up on us. After that, is security and safety. Basically, without this, our bodies wouldn't kill us, but something or someone could. There is also the need for financial security, as without it, you may lose your home or your ability to get food or water or adequate rest. There are also healthcare needs that rope in with financial security, as long as you live in America.

Moving onto psychological needs, the need for self-esteem and the need for belongingness and relationships can be interchangeable. But the belongingness is a need to be connected with family, friends, romantic\sexual relationships, a "friend group," and potentially religion and a church. Self-esteem is used to determine a person's self-worth and value. Having good self-esteem may include feeling self-confident, feeling secure in your own identity, feeling like you belong, and feeling like you are smart in whatever you're doing. 

Finally, you have self-actualization. It's being the best you can be, it's being authentically yourself. It's fully using your abilities, your talents, your potential. It's something that gives you true happiness and the true meaning of life. Yet, at the end of the day, many people in America aren't living anywhere close to this. Others step on people to get to this. It really sucks. We need to have the ability to create our own identity and people really value that. 

In western culture, intrinsic value is what people strive for. If you sit down and have to write certain things about yourself, a lot of them may be intrinsic values. Intrinsic is valued in one's own right. and extrinsic values are based on what others tell you. An example of an intrinsic value would be that you are an athlete, or a chef, or a nice person. Extrinsic is that you're a good friend, a mother, a daughter, a son, a grandparent. Creating your own identity is based on intrinsic value. 

Just More Rambling

I think some of the other important things are how we need to be tolerant of others, as in idea 6. What sucks, however, is how some people's ideas are intolerant of others. How should we be tolerant of other's intolerant ideas? How is that fair to anyone? Like it is understandable that the first amendment protects people's views, but why should we be protective of their views.