Eight Values

The eight values of freedom are all very important. However, if I had to pick the one that resonates the most with me I would have to go with Benedict Spinoza and a stable change. As people we all get frustrated. We all are going to have bad days. We are going to go through tough times. Since this is the case you have to be able to let that frustration and anger out. This is where stable change comes in. You need to change in a stable way so that change does not break you apart. We as people live in a world of free speech and this keeps us from getting violent. We get our frustration out by speech instead of action. If we didn’t have stable change this would not be the case.

If I had to pick one of the eight values that feels the most personal to me I would have to go with C. Edwin Baker and Individual Self-Fulfillment. Free speech is what makes me me. I am able to create my own identity in a free country where I can say what I mean. If I couldn’t say the things I thought then I would not be able to be me. This is what individual self-fulfillment is all about. If I had to pick which one of the eight values I see in action today, I think I could honestly pick any of the eight because they are all relevant, but I would go with Vince Blasi and Check on Governmental Power. I’d go with that because we hear a lot about power and whether people are using it properly or abusing it when we look at American politics. I mean look, my previous blog post was about this subject. We have a check and balance system so none of our government branches get too powerful and out-power the other ones. We have this to save ourselves from issues we do not want in our nation. 

A theory is something that could or couldn’t be true, put together to try to explain a bigger picture. Social media is ridiculously popular, especially in the hands of college students. I’m sure any teacher gets tired of seeing students in their classes pick up their phone on the side of their desk and text their friends on snapchat. However, I would definitely say that social media is related to the eight values of freedom. One of the values of freedom we talked about is the Marketplace of Ideas with John Milton. When I think about social media that is what I think. Looking at instagram for example I often get so many ideas. If I see a cool picture I think about taking a picture like it. If I see a picture of a Charlotte Hornets basketball game it makes me want to go to a Charlotte Hornets basketball game. Social media is an endless cycle of me seeing things and thinking of new ideas when I see those things. Like Milton said, it is a marketplace of ideas.