This country was made out of all the struggles and quarrels the people experienced with the English Monarchy. They wanted the freedom to express themselves and be heard! The Bill of Rights gave them this power with the First Amendment. It being the first is so important to highlight the value that it gave, for freedom of speech, of and from religion, press, petition, and assembly. Growing up, speaking my mind was something that came naturally, however, it took some time to realize this was a right.
The eight theories of free expression all serve a prominent purpose, however, out of the eight theories, the one that stands out to be the most relevant to me has to be number four, the Individual Self-Fulfillment. Without the idea of Individual self-fulfillment, we couldn't back the other seven principles. Individual Self-Fulfillment is defined as "Free speech that enables individuals to express themselves and thereby create their own identity" or more simply self-actualization. If we weren't able to discover and build our thoughts and beliefs, we wouldn't be able to participate in self-government, promote innovation, or have a marketplace of ideas. We would just be going along with what we're told to, and what's the point of democracy without individual thought? I grew up in a generation raised on social media, sharing our every thought and every move, and with that, we learned the value of expression. It is often encouraged to be yourself and have a sense of uniqueness on the internet that makes you different from others. Individuals have to participate in conversations and experiences to learn about their own opinions and beliefs and experience self-actualization.
Society as a whole, is experiencing self-actualization in itself, with each generation as our forms of communication expand. You can see it changing views on, women's roles in society to the changes in acceptance of same-sex relationships, the ideas on immigration, and those of different backgrounds. As we progress as a society and have more extensive ways of communicating with each other, we surpass just self-actualization and self-fulfillment and grow as a society.
With all this growth, we are also promoting innovation, creating a more accepting society, which has given people the confidence and the means to be more creative. My generation and the ones following have changed the ways ideas are spread with social media but also put a heavier emphasis on being creative. In class, we defined Promoting Innovation as " A community in which free speech is valued and protected is likely to be a more energized, creative, interesting society as its citizens actively fulfill themselves in many diverse and interesting ways." We are building a more creative and interesting society because our society demands it to keep up. We have created an entirely new field of "Content Creators" on social media, that's sole purpose is to creatively interact with the masses, whether it's entertaining, marketing, or influencing the public, which is now affecting how the business world is conducted.
Recently in the news, there has been a debate about whether AI has taken that creative liberty and rights away from actors and writers in the pop culture field, threatening their jobs. While we are promoting innovation with this new technology, are we harming the creative aspects of our society? That is a question for our society's individuals. I think there is a way for both to coexist with proper regulations protecting the individual. The ways our society has changed and progressed are continuous but that has to be rooted in the freedom of expression that allows for self-fulfillment and innovation.
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