The freedoms of the United States Constitution provide citizens the right to freedom from religion, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of petition. These are the six clauses of freedom in the first amendment and the basic foundation of our country. Our founding fathers wanted a system where each individual could share their thoughts and beliefs which was the whole point of leaving and living in America.
The eight values of free expression are Discovery of Truth, Participation in Self-Government, Stable Change, Individual Self-Fulfillment, Check on Governmental Power, Promote Tolerance, Promote Innovation, and Protect Dissent. What these are meant to do is ensure that our government remains in check.
For me, I think that Promote Tolerance is the most important of the eight expressions. Tolerance theory is the acceptance of an action or idea with which you disagree with. In today’s society, we are constantly having debates about issues on what you should and shouldn’t do through social media. It is annoying that we find it easier to just argue with someone instead of stating that they are alright with your point of view but here's mine. People always say that your opinion is just flat-out wrong instead of giving them good reasons as to why they are wrong. Another aspect is that when they look at what is wrong in the world they just focus on that and then think that everything else is bad because of it. For example, some policemen have committed some form of police brutality and then people say that the entire police force is just bad and should be defunded. Which is just wrong isn’t true, just because one egg in the carton is bad doesn’t mean the entire carton is bad. When it comes to social media people just have no tolerance about what they say because they think that they are safe behind their screens.
A man named Lee C. Bollinger said in his book called The Tolerant Society: Freedom of Speech and Extremist Speech in America that he argues from a standpoint of tolerance in favor of protecting extremist speech. In this book, he states that tolerating extreme speech is important because being protected itself, provides a shield for more mainstream political discourse. Supposedly tolerates reduces racial and ethnic tension, respects the rights of others, and diminishes the perception that other people are a threat.
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