The 3rd Value: Stable Change

Among the 8 Values of Free Expression, are Discovery of Truth, Participation in Self-Government, Stable Change, Individual Self-Fulfillment, Check on Governmental Power, and Promote Tolerance. Upon studying and allowing myself to understand each value and their roles, I found myself interested in learning more about the 3^rdvalue, Stable Change (aka Safety Valve). Stable Change protects one’s right to “vent” about anything she or she may choose to, including political views or personal objections to societal order. A great example of this value taking shape in modern media, is Lebron James dissing President Trump via Twitter. Lady Gaga also practices her freedom when publicly stating her opinion of the harm she believes to be done by President Trump. This concept allows for people to come together by making opinions knows, and even lead to real change in governmental actions. It means a great deal to me for humans with different passions and focuses to be able to go from being an individual with little power or voice, to a part of a group with the potential to make a lasting impact on what they believe is important.

However, there is one other reason that I believe this gift of freedom is so interesting; it is in the government's interest above the peoples'. The Value of Stable change promotes stability in a society where opinions of disapproval are not punished, thus making people less likely to act out in violence. Not only does allowing one to speak his or her mind prevent unrest and stop violence from occurring, but it allows the government to keep and eye on and take part in combating dispute from individuals or groups. I recently came across an Instagram post by civil rights activist Shaun King, who has a large following of supporters, claiming that his team of social media analysts and researchers concluded that a conservative individual or corporation is using secret accounts to combat his activism against targeting the government. This made me believe that with an account so widely known and full of compelling evidence against the government, Shaun King became a threat to the conservative party and ultimately a target. Not to say whether or not I believe this is ethically wrong, but Mr. King has expressed that comments and posts against him are the government using his own platform to change the opinions of those already seeing his content. Over and over, I have seen this type of mysterious anti-civil rights content from unidentifiable accounts on largely followed pages, thus I conclude that this particular value requires further examination and understanding than other values, and can be used to understand how political parties use social media to monitor and combat opposing ideas.