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| The Claremont Independent Women and men carrying a "FREE SPEECH" banner during a free-speech movement |
Freedom of Expression: Why is it important?
As I read through the Eight Values of Free Expression given to us in class, I realized how big of a part these values are in my everyday life.
Thinking about each one, they are all very important but there was just one that sticks out the most to me: individual self fulfilment.
In America, we live in a place where you should feel free to be who you want and believe what you want. The first amendment allows us to be free in our own identity no matter what others may feel or think. The freedom of expression allows nonviolent speech and protesting solely for the value of self-fulfillment.
This value is so important because we come from a country where we are not limited to certain norms and expectations from our government. It reminds us that nobody; no matter what power they have, they cannot take away or change who we truly are. Many great leaders, today and in history, have achieved their goals and pursued their dreams by believing in themselves and being true to who they are.
Self-fulfillment in today's society
We see people participating in self-actualization every day in our normal lives.
Personal growth and finding identity have become a very large part of today's world and social media is a huge factor.
Social media has allowed people to exercise their first amendment right to thousands if not millions of people online, which only allows the search and need for fulfillment to grow larger.
Read in the article linked above, in our modern time we have plenty of resources that meet our physical needs and naturally that has shifted our focus towards our mental needs and challenges.
Obviously social media is always the main topic when it comes to modern day conversation about freedom of speech. We often find a lot of inspiration for our own wants and needs from other people creating personas online. Social media can be positive for someone's personal growth and self-fulfillment, but it can also be negative.
It is easy for people to compare themselves to others online and they probably are not even seeing an accurate representation of that individual's life.
Where do we see self-actualization in history?
The self-fulfilling prophecy has had a huge part in the way people have gone about finding their sense of self.
Similar to modern day, the self-fulfilling prophecy represents a process through someone having a false expectation of another person that eventually leads to another person acting in similar ways or confirming those actions.
This represents how a lot of individual's go about finding self-actualization in history and modern day.
This comes back to our first amendment right to our freedom of expression because self-fulfilling prophecies lead people to a like-minded induvial who may have similar beliefs and expressions.
Our first amendment was put into place to allow these individuals to assemble and share their beliefs with others.
Why I personally connect with Self-fulfillment
I chose to write about this value because I believe America would not be what is today without the diversity in opinions, good and bad. If we lived in a world where everyone was the same and believed in the same things - there would never be any change.
We learn from others who are different from us, they carry new perspectives and ideals for us to learn and carry on to the next induvial.
I personally enjoy hearing from others with a differing opinion then myself, sometimes it can help me see the world from a different view. It teaches me respect for what another person chooses to believe and the standards they may hold themselves to.
I know, because of our freedom to express, that even if someone may have an opinion, I strongly disagree with, that they still have the same right as me and anyone else in our country to express what they believe.
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