Eight Values of Free Expression

A value of free expression that I found interesting is Stable Change.  Benedict Spinoza explains Stable change as a freedom that allows citizens to speak their minds on topics that make them upset or angry in hopes that allowing this speech will prevent violence from occurring.  It has been argued that this is a statement made by the government that really just allows them to actively watch groups of interest in an attempt to prevent potentially dangerous acts from happening.  This freedom is beneficial on almost all sides.  It allows the people to keep their freedom of speech and it allows the government to keep an eye on those who may be a threat. 

I am in favor of free speech and do believe that citizens should be able to speak their minds especially  when angry with the government. Now more than ever, voices can be heard from all over the world using social media.  People are able to virtually gather with people who have similar viewpoints to theirs which is beneficial in sending a message and getting it heard.  Unfortunately, like anything, this has downsides. 

"The Internet and social media have created new pathways from strident ideology to radicalism." The internet can now be used to recruit for terrorist organizations, provide a place for dangerous groups to gather, and organize hate crimes and violence.  People with similar viewpoints can gather whether good or bad and share their ideas, but this can be dangerous when the wrong people do this.  An example of this would be the January sixth attack on the capitol.  The idea of this reached many people over social media which caused them all to band together and break into the capitol building.  Without the internet, this could likely not have been planned to this scale.  

When things like this are being posted so publicly, the government needs to be keeping a closer eye on these internet users who threaten and use hate speech. An example that is literally close to home for me is the Tree of Life Shooting that occurred in my hometown, Pittsburgh.  It was known that the man who did this, Robert Bowers, was very active on Gab which is known as a "Extremist-Friendly Site".  Before Robert open fired on the synagogue, he posted "hateful and violent messages on Facebook and Twitter that were laced with misinformation and conspiracy theories."  His last post before committing this crime stated, "HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people.  I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered.  Screw your optics, I'm going in."

Crimes like these have warning signs that are often displayed on social media or totally laid out by organizations that plan to spread hate and violence.  Free speech has so many benefits and is essential to freedom in America, but the mix of free speech, the internet, and hateful people has created a dangerous problem.  John Horgan, a professor at Georgia State University and author of The Psychology of Terrorism explains that "For the last several years, analysts have warned that these kinds of conditions would lead to these kinds of actions. I genuinely fear that we are seeing the culmination of something that has been boiling over for some time now. ...And I fear that we're not prepared for it."  This is something that not only experts fear, but even me, a freshman in college.  If this type of media usage is not monitored correctly, then this freedom can become dangerous in situations like these.  There will always be bad people out in the world and misuse of our freedoms, but I believe that this is a growing problem that needs to be more highly monitored as there were deaths and hate crimes that could have been prevented with monitoring these people's social media and intervening before horrible things occur.