The Printing Press

 Up until 1436, the main way to write words or draw pictures on paper was by doing it handwritten. There was no way to print documents or artwork fast, so people had to hand write or draw documents one at a time. In the year 1436, an inventor by the name of Johannes Gutenberg came up with a groundbreaking idea that changed how people produced documents for the rest of time. Johannes Gutenberg was the person who invented the printing press. The printing press  is a machine used to transfer text and images onto paper using ink. This printing press was monumental for society and the way it functioned. It allowed people to spread information quickly and accurately, and made putting together things like books, magazines, and novels a whole lot easier, which helped make the population more literate at the time. Another thing the printing press helped produce is jobs. With a new way of printing involved, there would be positions needed to be filled for making and using these printing presses. 

The Importance of Dissent

I believe that the most important of the eight values of freedom of expression is protecting dissent. Our society can not and will not function without dissent. Most of the time nowadays when people express themselves they are expressing dissent of something or someone. Without being able to express your disapproval for something, you lose the right you have to tell the government no. When thinking of a country trying to pull off a functioning society without permitting dissent, it is impossible for one to not think of the society of Oceania in George Orwell’s “1984”. That is the dictionary definition for a society without dissent. See, the society portrayed in 1984 took the idea of prohibiting dissent to a whole new level, making it illegal to even think negative thoughts about the government. However, even on a smaller scale, restricting a people's right to express disapproval of an idea is the first step on the path to convincing a country that freedom is slavery and two plus two equals five. Prohibiting dissent in some ways is similar to promoting censorship, a value that was expressed in another famous dystopian book, Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”. In both of these dystopias, the government has taken complete control of a society’s power and used it against the people. What is the difference, you might ask? Unlike promoting censorship and hiding things from a society, when you prohibit dissent, people can see how badly they’re being treated, they just can’t do anything about it.

  

Without dissent, you can not even begin to question the other seven values of freedom of expression. Let’s take the first value of freedom of expression, having a marketplace of ideas. We say that having a marketplace of ideas is important because we need all ideas on the table, including bad ideas at times. The whole idea of having a marketplace of ideas is restricting the government from picking and choosing ideas for us. If we were to prohibit dissent, that takes away our right to disapprove of certain government actions that go against our beliefs. Good luck trying to tell the government that they can’t pick and choose ideas when we can’t even say no.

Supreme Court Video Response

In all of American history there have been just over 100 Supreme Court justices serving an average of 16 years. That fact itself goes to show how important each Supreme Court justice is, and explains why it is very important that presidents must choose very wisely when appointing a new justice. The most important takeaway I got from this video was the importance of the 14th amendment. I did not know how big of a role the 14th amendment played in the Constitution. Many people call the 14th amendment the second bill of rights. This is because similarly to the way the bill of rights was put into place to protect citizens against federal power, the 14th amendment was put into place to protect citizens against state powers. The most surprising fact that I learned during this video was that the supreme court receives around 7,000 new cases each year. That is an insane workload that they have to deal with. It makes me wonder how many cases they have to look at every day. This video gave me a new insight on the importance of the Supreme Court and how it works. I never knew that after coming to a decision on a case, one of the justices must write what is called an opinion draft on the case. Opinion drafts take about 4 weeks. If another justice doesn’t like the opinion made, that justice can make an opinion of their own. 

My Top 5 News Sources!

1. My number one go-to source of news is Fox News. I tend to try to get my news through multiple outlets in attempts to avoid as much bias as possible. However, that being said, if I were to choose a number 1 it would definitely be Fox. My main reason for this is the familiarity Fox News has with me. Growing up, Fox News was always the station on the TV. My parents loved Fox, however, my grandparents on the other hand, watched CNN. This allowed me to hear both sides of most political stories and made it easier to decide who I agreed with more. Though I do tend to enjoy Fox News a bit more, CNN does definitely also have its perks. I view Fox and CNN in sort the same way I view Google Chrome and Safari; I tend to use Safari more, however it is mostly due to the familiarity I have with it from growing up, not just because I think it is better.  

2. As you can probably infer from my reasoning for choosing Fox News as number one, my number two source of news is CNN. I really enjoy the balance it gives me watching the rival channel to Fox. I've never enjoyed listening to only one side of the story, even if it is the side I like more. Being able to hear all opinions and form my own based on them allows me to know that I am never speaking on something that I don't know about. One thing that CNN does that Fox does not is the daily, short, 10 minute segments about what is going on in the world for kids in school. I remember when I was in middle school watching CNN Student News with Carl Azuz in my civics class was my favorite part of the day. 

3. Now that the frontrunners are out of the way, we can move onto the less arguable news sources. My number three news source is ABC News. I really like the credibility of ABC News. It gives me a sense of relief knowing that there is much less bias than most other news source options. I enjoy watching "Good Morning America" because it is non-biased, friendly, light hearted news... and growing up in a family of Giants fans, if Michael Strahan's on the news, I'm watching.  

4. My choices for fourth and fifth favorite news sources are even closer of a race than Fox and CNN were. These sources are the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times tends to lean left, or liberal, as the Wall Street Journal tends to lean right, or conservative. After thinking more about what I really want to see in a news source, I decided that Wall Street Journal is my number four, followed by The New York Times at five. However, the direction in which the opinionated parts of these news sources lean is not what helped me choose my number four. Instead, I chose it because I prefer hearing about business more than politics, and Wall Street Journal is known for its business section of the news. I've never been one to enjoy arguing or listening to people argue. (though I am pretty good at arguing myself) Therefore, I would much rather read about business advice than pressing political issues. 

5. Although I did just explain exactly why there are four different news stations I would put above The New York Times, I believe it deserves some appreciation for making the list. For one, The New York Times' logo is my favorite on the list! Seriously though, I do really enjoy the reputation of The New York Times. They have been known as one of the top, and most credible, news sources for years. They are known to have a very rigorous review process, making it extremely hard for bias and untruthful information to be approved.