Within the first amendment, one of the clauses states our freedom of speech. Not only is freedom of speech a privilege that helps us self actualize and express ourselves, but it is also an integral part of our checks and balances system. Freedom of speech allows us to fulfill our civic duty to criticize the government and develop our own opinions and beliefs to help create a better community and country.
We can identify eight values of free expression as a result of our freedom of speech. This includes the Marketplace of Ideas, Participation in Self-Government, Stable Change, Individual Self-Fulfillment, Check on Governmental Power, Promote Tolerance, Promote Innovation, and Protect Dissent.
In the midst of the turmoil that is our government and political state, especially during a pandemic and election year, our civic involvement is very relevant during this time. A key part of this is exercising our freedom of speech. We can see some of the values that come from our freedom of speech relate to the racial reform the people of the U.S. are trying to promote and create. For example, the idea that freedom of speech promotes tolerance and stable change is very applicable in this case.
The value of promoting tolerance refers to the idea that freedom of speech helps develop a more tolerant society. It is argued that extending protection to more hateful or personally upsetting speech actually spreads norms of what is acceptable and unacceptable within society. As societal norms are incredibly influential and powerful because humans desire the need to belong, I think this idea, although counterintuitive, is a very important value to examine. Often times many think the way to prevent behavior is by restricting it through laws, although I find that the more you outwardly restrict, the bigger the desire is in response and the behavior often increases. I think of prohibition as an example of this.
Through the lens of our current society, an example of hate speech that I believe has evolved to become incredibly socially unacceptable is the N-word. Obviously, this word is disgusting and stems from an even more disgusting history and is never excusable, however, this word is still often floated around in our society today. With the BLM protests and racial reform that we have been pushing since the tragic death of George Floyd, I would argue that this word along with other slurs and microaggressions has begun diminishing although there is still a lot of work to do. I think this is because society has begun to intensely condemn this language after these events, and many people have learned valuable lessons and understanding of why hateful speech like this is unacceptable and worthy of such condemnation. For example, the major change I have noticed is that before this racial justice revolution, many nonblack teens and young adults would say the N-word in the context of music lyrics. Although they were not intentionally using it to be derogatory, it is still incredibly inappropriate to say. Since racial justice protests, the word is said significantly less by this generation, even in the context of music. If the lyrics involve the word, nonblack adults will skip the word completely which wasn't often the case before. I believe this is due to a better understanding of why it is not okay to say in addition to the societal condemnation that will come after saying this word.
Another example of hate speech resulting in societal consequences is shown in this article. The article takes a look at some celebrities who have been fired and "canceled" by society for their previous racist and discriminatory comments.
This is just one example of a current situation that the values of free speech are applicable to. Many do not have the privilege to experience the fruitfulness our freedoms depicted by the first amendment entail for us. My hope is that Americans continue to understand, learn, and develop gratitude for the rights that we do have and begin using these freedoms to create a better country and society.
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