Week 10: Eight Values of Free Expression

The marketplace of ideas and individual self-fulfillment. These two values of free expression are the most important among all eight. Throughout history, these two values have been at the forefront of First Amendment court cases. The marketplace of ideas first appeared in one of the quartet cases of 1919. Oliver Wendell Holmes, a Supreme Court Justice at the time of one of these cases, dissented from the normal protocol regarding First Amendment rights. His dissent helped to create the modern First Amendment and freedom of speech laws that we know today. If you’d like to read more about Holmes’ dissent and the details of the case, you can do that here.

Now, the idea of individual self-fulfillment is probably one of the most important ideas in all of society and life (not just within the First Amendment). The idea of individual self-fulfillment is one that allows individuals within society to find purpose. Through free speech and free flow of ideas, individual self-fulfillment acts as a way for humans to live the life they want and not feel persecuted for it. In some aspect of everyone’s life, we’re all looking self-fulfillment.

These two values of free expression have been under fire ever since the rise of the internet and social media. In an article posted by americanbar.org, author David L. Hudson, Jr. describes how social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are using censorship to rob us of our First Amendment rights. Particularly, these platforms are attacking the values of the marketplace of ideas and individual self-fulfillment. the article talks about how when these platforms use censorship (and you know they all do to some extent) they’re robbing individuals of the actual marketplace of ideas. This lack of a free flow of ideas and thoughts among individuals then creates a halt on the path towards many individuals’ self-fulfillment. If individuals can’t be exposed to everyone’s ideas and beliefs, how can they create their own thoughts and feelings based on pre-existing ones? Personally, I feel that the way the internet and social media have been used in the last two years has created a toxic environment for everyone. I feel as if everything I read online or see in an Instagram post is fake or just can’t be trusted. The amount of censorship that is used online is appalling. The internet needs to be considered in the same realm as public space, which is where almost all of the First Amendment can be enforced.