Blog Post 4

The Eight Values of Free expression 

As referenced above in the eight values of free expression, "Our system is not supposed to be one of mob rule." I believe recently we have strayed away from this value. I feel as if our society is slowly turning into a dictatorship. Many peoples lives have been effected negatively at the hands of the government. From taking a vaccine that you don't need or want to take, to getting taken off the internet from saying the truth about something, our society is slowly changing for the worse.

On social media, it should be considered free speech to say what you want. But recently, people have been getting their accounts and posts taken down for saying true statements about the government. The government basically takes down everything that they think could get them in trouble or that shows them in a bad light. I believe that this is very wrong. As one of the eight values of free expression states, "Our system is not supposed to be one of mob rule. The First Amendment protects minority views, no matter how unpopular. You have a strongly protected right to disagree with the government — and everyone else. In fact, it is your patriotic duty to criticize the government". I believe that this means that anybody should be able to have the ability to say, write, post or think what they believe without the government censoring it. No matter how mean or false your accusation may be it is still your right as an American to express that thought about the government. 

    Typically I am a very easy going guy, but this is a topic that angers me. As somebody that is not vaccinated I believe that the government has been putting peoples lives at risk just to make money off this unhealthy vaccine. Anybody that has spoken up about this issue to the government or has tried to spread truth or share their opinion about it has been silenced. My parents are also big into this pro free speech issues and because of this they have resulted to getting their media on a secure website where the government can't access it. 

An example of somebody who has left the press because of free speech is Tucker Carlson. Tucker Carlson was a very well known Fox News anchor who was recently fired from Fox for speaking his mind about the January 6th Incident and saying that Trump was not responsible for the break in at the Capital. Now Tucker Carlson has to broadcast his own views on Twitter another private site that the government cannot reach.As time goes on I hope we as a society can band together to get our rights to free speech back. We must return to our original values of America being a free country where you have the right to say, think, and write what you want. I believe that all eight values of free expression are very powerful but today, I decided to key into the eighth.