By Peyton Schismenos
Freedom of expression is an idea that spans public and private sectors, providing value to countries and their citizens. Societies have these concepts interwoven through all facets of their lives. I cannot overstate the value; the principles surrounding moral dilemma and courage are avenues to self-regulate and critique both individual and whole, as all healthy nations must. Free expression affords the same freedom from an uprising through a disarming of daily stressors. People who are at extreme odds are allowed to despise one another, criticize the entire ideology of their counterparts, and live their existence in opposition to and to the same groups with no fear of repercussion. These people now coexist, bartering in the form of government electorates for their side’s success, prospering the entire country. Individuals who feel free to be themselves will work in the system rather than burn it down.
Free expression allows large groups to form. Like-minded individuals are often built into organizations with the concept that these people are free to be alone and (in a sense) directionless. Free expression allows us to go from wanting to change something, to voicing our feelings, often most plainly. The form here is parrhesia, saying everything one feels and means. The Greeks and Romans had this sort of free expression set in place so the users would always be treated as contributing members who were valuable beyond their tax contributions. The specifics of identity creation are symbiotic with the opinions expressed, so the individual’s statement of belief is as important as the belief given. Over time, this opinion-haver is distinguished by their moments of courage and moral outspokenness, creating who they are as a parrhesiastes and a person thereafter.
The idea of Knowing oneself and the world in a broader sense is important, as history does not remember those who never spoke up. One asks if a certain demographic could even talk, believed not advanced enough or seen to be the lesser in other substantive manner, all due to their lack of visibility by historians of the more globally prominent group. Once the last whisperers of a now secret-talked history are gone, the imperialist majority becomes truth, and as a parallel of the question of the subaltern, the successor’s narrative becomes normative. Without freedom of expression, history dies, and culture is buried with it.
Free expression is dangerous. Depending on the situation, the lack of repercussions for bucking and evolving can be an entire shutdown of access to resources. Unpopular expression is seen and acknowledged as needing harbor, adjacent to gay teens coming out to their parents is a White Nationalist rally held in Charlottesville. Does this idea of free expression extend from the minor forms of identity creation such as writing about hating one’s job in their journal, all the way to flag burning and calling for the dismissal of their democracy in favor of a dictatorship. Still, this change allows for amendments to be made, people to grow and be different, and humanity to generally evolve into new people. Free expression gives us the ability to try, and try we must.
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