Eight Values of Free Expression

 From the eight values of free expression speech theories I agree with the first one and think it makes a lot of sense once I thought about it for a while. This theory is written by John Milton in his book Areopagitica and it is called Marketplace of Ideas (aka Discovery of Truth). From my understanding this theory is saying that all ideas should be openly presented and talked about, no matter if they are good or bad or true or false, and that the true good ideas will outweigh the bad false ones. I always thought that everyone should speak their mind and share their ideas to a certain extent because that is a human right we all have under the First Amendment after all, but I have never thought about it quite like this before. At first glance at this theory it seems sort of far-fetched to say that everyone should not hold back but instead say whatever they want because people can say some offensive and vulgar things. What I got out of this is that we can’t control what people say and we also shouldn’t have to because in time the truth will come out and at some point society will get the best of them. I even feel like I have seen this happen just in general so many times. Some examples are when people get caught in their lies or when people speak offensively especially towards someone or groups of people and other people stand up for them and make sure they know what they said is wrong.

Another theory I found to be important is Stable Change (aka Safety Valve) written by Benedict Spinoza in Tractatus-Theologico. This speech theory is suggesting that a society would be more stable if that when the citizens are angry they speak their minds about what they are angry about. I think this is very true because no matter who you are whether you are necessarily angry or not, if you hold in your thoughts and feelings for too long then inevitably one way or another they will come out. Sometimes when this happens you will not be able to control how or when your emotions will affect your actions. I have personally experienced this multiple times, when I don’t talk about my feelings and they all bottle up I end up snapping and taking it out on whoever is around me without even meaning to. Now just imagine this happening to every alienated and angry person, there would be utter chaos. It is also important for the government to know what groups are angry or disgruntled. If everyone is afraid to speak out due to fear of government retribution or censorship, they will stay underground and possibly be more likely to react violently. For example if there are violent extremist groups and we do not allow them to talk in a public forum they may stay underground. This makes it harder to track their whereabouts and what their possible actions could be. Historically,  groups like the KKK were allowed to march although most people were against it. We were still able to see who they were and what they stood for.  Therefore I agree with Benedict Spinoza when he says “Ultimately, it is in the government's own self interest to allow such venting”. Eight values of free expression