Week 10: Eight Values of Free Expression

The Most Important Value of Free Expression

There are so many rights that we as American citizens have. Not only do we have the ability to express ourselves, our opinions, and our hatreds, those rights are protected under the law. Eight values of free speech state many theories about the positives of our protected rights, but, one rings louder than others.

The value of Stable Change (aka Safety Valve) was instituted by Benedict Spinoza. Spinoza suggested that in a society with angry and outcast citizens who were allowed to voice their minds and dislikes was a more stable environment. People would be less likely to act out in aggression. Now, the reason why this value sticks out to me more than the others is the following:

With these individuals voicing themselves, enables the government to monitor potentially dangerous groups. So, ultimately, this value proves that it is in the government's best interest to allow self-expression.

Personally, I never thought about the second component of this value. I have always felt strongly that the alienated people should have numerous outlets to express their dislikes or discomfort. It allows them to externalize their feelings and hopefully feel better, take action, or develop a deeper sense of self. However, by reading through all of these values, I was almost dumbfounded to not have ever thought about the fact that this self-expression allows the government to monitor danger. By seeing how these people or groups protest or express themselves, it gives information to help our overall safety. This is an incredible asset to our government that gives a win-win situation.

Week 6: EOTO Com Tech Timeline

One of my peers chose to do his Evolution of Communication Technology on telephones. Our phones are something that never leaves our pockets, let alone a 15-foot radius. If you don't agree with that, you must not be a millennial! But, having something so mundane and normal and almost essential, makes us forget it's history.
Through my peer's presentation, I learned that the first people to have telephones were business people. They would first have them in their homes, and later moved to their offices. There was a long period of time where you could not call straight to your friends, you must first connect to a person who will then connect you to your friend. Once cell phones were more common, they were used for hospitals and banks, places where they would need immediate communication.
Now, of course my father would love to tell you all the negative effects on a teenager that cellphones bring. My peer used a funny analogy. He says he will call people that are in his own house, and boy, am I guilty of that, too! Besides the (not-so) obvious mental deficits of a cellphone like the lowerment of self-esteem, jealousy/comparison, and maybe anxiety... cell phones make us lazy!

Week 5: The Progressive Era

Americans are said to be cheaters. One example would be the science of IVF, artificial insemination. This is an interesting take on the whole IVF. Trying to put off getting pregnant until a woman is 4o years old is almost like cheating, according to this article. There is a trend among Americans where we are said to cheat nature. Maybe it is our nature, or our greed corrupting us. This article gives examples such as: abortion, pornography, or surrogacy.
Meanwhile, I have yet to mention the amount of cheating opportunities for students. There is everything from Instagram accounts for cheating, to literally tutors doing your homework. Almost everything you need to cheat is available through a quick google search. If you are taking an online exam via Blackboard, let's say you copy and paste a question from that exam into google. Google will pull up Quizlets with the answers on flashcards, or Course Hero, which is a website that actually uploads tests, assignments, or essays for students to copy (if you pay).
We, as cheating humans, are oblivious to the reality of our 'systematic cheating.' Is speeding through  yellow light cheating? Is skipping class cheating? Is surrogacy cheating? These are hard moral questions to ask but the reason why you should is because there is damage done when we cheat, irreversible damage against each other and against our natural order of life.

Week 4: Civil War & Reconstruction

Recently, Facebook has taken offline a database that allowed Facebook users' phone numbers to be googled. However, a cybersecurity researcher found a similar database that was similar to the one that was said to be taken off. It is unclear who or how the data was posted. The database allows you to search up a person/Facebook user, by their phone number.
This data exposes online users in a way they may be unaware of. This exposed data puts users at risk of scam phone calls. It is not just your Facebook profile and phone number that are available, however. Sensitive health records, demographic details, and information on job hunters.
As of the recent exposed data, Facebook estimates about 220 million users were effected. As a social media user, it is important to make sure every profile you have is turned to private. This will lower your chances of important data being exposed or you phone number getting to scam companies.