Blog Post #5 

The eight values of free expression 

Before taking the media law and literacy class, I didn't hear much about  the "eight values of free expression". But I'm going to write about the four values that I find are most important, (Discover of Truth), (Promote Tolerance), (Check on Governmental Power), and (Protect Dissent). I chose these because I personally feel that I can relate to them and what they mean. First, I am going to start off with the Discover of Truth which in free expression means that when truth and falsehood are free, truth is always the one that wins. This is important to me because I have always been the type of person where I would much rather someone tell me the truth than just lie. An example of discover of truth could be freedom of speech which is protected by our first amendment.   

    I am now going to explain Promote Tolerance, Promoting tolerance can mean many different things that I learned from dekkak.com, such as trying to be more compassionate and understanding of other peoples feelings. This can especially come in handy when you are working for a professional, or when it comes to parenting. I personally can relate to this because I have always seen myself as being a very patient and understanding person. I always try to see the bright side of things, and help others to as well.    

    Moving forward to Check on Governmental Power, this taught me many things about the government that I didn't know before. An example of this could be government scandals, where the government has to be "checked", such as the famous Watergate scandal. I personally feel that checking on governmental power is very important because of people who cause government trouble such as whistleblowers, who spill government secrets to popular news sources, as many people know Ed Snowden who was a famous whistleblower who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton in Honolulu Hawaii, spilled top secret government information from the National Security Agency, and was leaked from the news source the guardian in 2013. He later fled the United States to Russia, therefore the government couldn't necessarily track him, he even got married since then. This is just one of many reasons that Governmental Power should be checked.  

    Lastly, I will discuss Protect Dissent which is talked about in the First Amendment, protecting dissent is meant to protect the individuals right to criticize and call out the government when they do something wrong. I personally feel this is one of the most important values, because I feel that as fellow Americans it is our right to freedom, therefore we should be able to tell the government when we don't appreciate what is being done.  

      To conclude this blog, I'm glad that I got to research and learn more about the eight values of free expression. After researching all eight values I feel they all have some sort of importance, but I feel I explained the ones that have the most importance to me.                                   

    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edward-Snowden

    https://dekkak.com/simple-ways-promote-peace-tolerance-world/