Key Post #3 Eight Values of Free Expression

 In today’s current events I feel as if voice and opinion has gone too far in the sense of the internet. Most people hide behind a screen and say things that they would never say to someone’s face and label it as ‘venting’. While the internet may be great to express yourselves in different ways, I feel as if expression and opinion are getting lost within what the facts truly are. A global issue that is happening today is about the promotion of tolerance through freedom of speech aids in the rise of extremism and hate speech leading to violence and discrimination against groups of people. Which also plays into the fact that facts and opinions have gotten so chaotic and noisy in that realm, that some people can’t differentiate the two. 

Hate crimes against religious, ethnic, and racial minorities are rising, partly because extremist ideas and opinions spread online, fueling division and hatred in different societies. For example, after the Israel-Hamas conflict has gotten so much attention within the media, U.S. antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed 360% in the aftermath of the October 7th attack in Israel. “Reported hate crime incidents across the country have once again reached record highs, with anti-Jewish hate crimes at a number not seen in decades. At a time when the Jewish community is already reeling in the wake of a terrorist attack that constituted the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, the reality of this data is incredibly sobering” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. Regarding this conflict, the facts of the matter have been completely lost as people on social media started dissecting Osama Bin Laden’s pre 9/11 letter, and claiming that his acts against the United States were actually justified. That type of OPINION being relayed as a FACT through the internet, does not help in any situation whatsoever and does not make a more tolerant society- instead creates a more delusional and dangerous society. 

I can relate this to Lee Bollinger’s, “The Tolerant Society: Freedom of Speech and Extremist Speech” because Bollinger argues that protecting even the worst kinds of speech helps contribute to a more tolerant society, and while I agree with that statement, I don’t agree with it in the realm of social media as it is so noisy and nobody actually reads into stories that the facts of the matter gets lost and it becomes dangerous for specific groups of people. Although I still agree with the fact that this vicious ‘venting’ should still be protected by the First Amendment, as ridiculous as some of what I’ve read is- it needs to be protected. However, I do believe that opinions that are portrayed as a fact SHOULD be monitored as it is literal propaganda and becomes harmful to groups of people. The news, media, and especially on social media platforms have gotten taken to a new level of violence. As someone who is jewish and has had people that my family and friends knew, be kidnapped and brutally murdered- having the internet’s noisy OPINIONS creates violence for jewish people and Israelis all around the world and it is not helping the situation, it’s having people call for violence without even truly knowing it.