Antiwar Voices

It was so interesting exploring antiwar.com and The American Conservative because I have never heard discussions of these opinions in mainstream news sources. I read a few different articles on each of these websites including, “US to deploy over 100 unmanned vessels to the Persian gulf,” and “Israel’s arms exports flourish amid Ukraine war, Iran and Abraham accords.” Both of these articles gave a different perspective than all mainstream news that is pumped out. 

Although our first amendment is supposed to protect our freedom of speech and press, mainstream news still follows a lot of restrictions that most consumers do not even realize. One reason there are restrictions is because most media sources just focus on the business aspect rather than being morally cautious. They want to tell their audience what they want to hear in order to be successful. Secondly, our government does their best to keep things from us that they do not want us to know. They do not want anyone to defy their beliefs or actions. If the United States was openly at war with each other, this would make us seem easy to attack, especially if there was widespread anti war belief.  

The United States, although not completely censorship free, has it a lot better than other countries. Censorship affects us more than we will ever truly realize. It is vital to educate yourself by reading through multiple news sources with different views and propaganda. I will now use antiwar.com and The American Conservative to learn more about the point of views that I have been missing before I was introduced to them. 

https://www.antiwar.com/latest.php

https://archive.ph/qcB7l

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/11/20/us-to-deploy-over-100-unmanned-vessels-to-the-persian-gulf/

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/

History of the SMS

We all have watched how communication within technology has quickly evolved throughout our lives. A lot of us could not even imagine a time before we had texting as a main source of communication. 

SMS stands for “Short message service” and it was invented in 1984 by a man named Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert. They designed texting to be a short message of 160 characters. Hillebrand tested the length of this message by writing random sentences and counting the characters and found that most messages could be conveyed in 160 characters or less. 

Although Hillebrand and Ghillebaert came up with the idea of SMS, Matti Makkonen was known as the father of SMS for inventing the Nokia phone. Texting truly did not start becoming popular until the 1990’s when Nokia released the first phone that could send an SMS. I am not sure if any of you remember watching your older siblings or parents type out texts by clicking the number buttons until you got the right letter, but it took much longer than it does today. Obviously, Nokia did not provide texters with things we have now like spell check or predictive text that support us in crafting messages.. The first text that ever went through was on Christmas which read, “Merry Christmas.” This was a perfect example of how simple messages had to be when SMS first started being used. Nokia then released a new phone that had a large keyboard making it much easier to craft messages. 

In the early 2000’s, texting became one of the most popular ways of communication. As it is today, SMS was especially popular among college students. But, on average, people were still only texting 35 times per month… nothing compared to the amount we text now. Companies started using texting as an important marketing tool which helped increase the popularity of texting in all generations. In 2002, text messaging became a part of everyday life with 250 billion messages sent worldwide in that year. Popular TV shows started using texting like American Idol’s “text to vote” feature. In 2007, for the first time ever, the amount of texts sent surpassed the number of calls made. This was also a big year for Apple as the first iPhone was released to the public. The iPhone has changed the way we communicate forever. It has made communication easier than ever, especially between iPhone's.

It has now been 25 years since the first text was ever sent. Today, messaging through apps like iMessage, Facebook messenger, Instagram DM, Snapchat, WhatsApp, etc, have become the most popular form of communication for millennials and Gen-Z. We are now able to use texting to our advantage, whether that be school or work.  I do not think a single person in our generation could fathom a world without instant messaging.

Eight Value of Free Expression

 The First Amendment states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Out of the eight values of free expression, promoting tolerance is the most important. Our society today has shifted from one that valued individual opinion to one that values a perceived societal norm. I know that a lot of my personally growth is from listening and learning from everyone's opinions, whether I agree with them or not. Everyone has been shaped one way or another from the words of others. Through maturity, everyone can learn to respect beliefs and values of others. 

In today's day, a lot of people believe that "hate speech" should be criminalized, but let me explain why it should absolutely not be. The less freedom of speech we have, the closer we get to total censorship. That being said, I do not believe that anyone should be able to say whatever they want, whenever and however they want. I agree that businesses should be able to apply punishment for people that go against their guidelines and use the platform inappropriately. Social media companies, like Instagram and Twitter, heavily monitor posts to make sure that there is nothing horrible is posted. Similarly to social media, there is a big difference between a hate crime and hate speech. This is something that people do not understand when wanting to limit the first amendment. Anything said to express harm on someone is not protected.   

The second most important in my opinion is "Check on Governmental Power." If the government is abusing its power, the people need to be able to respond and fight back. The most recent example I can think of is the overturning of Roe V. Wade. There is not a single person in the United States that was not aware of this shocking decision made by the Supreme Court. The people took to the streets and fought the government in attempt to protect their rights. 

The image above shows the true power of the First Amendment. When the citizens of the United States believed the government was acting unfairly, they fought, and fought hard. Without this protection, the United States government would become communist. 

Finally, individual self-fulfillment is vital. Every person on this planet should be able to freely speak and express themselves and their personal identities. This also ties into having tolerance and having respect for the people around you regardless of your beliefs or values. It is important that everyone feels accepted and loved despite who they are. Without this right, most would feel a deep level of dissatisfaction with their lives leading to further issues like violence, mental health issues, and much more. 

In conclusion, all 8 values of free expression are extremely important in maintaining a well run country. I believe the most important are promoting tolerance, check governmental powers, and individual self fulfillment. 

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/26/photos-abortion-protests-texas/

https://freespeechdebate.com/discuss/why-hate-speech-should-not-be-banned/

https://study.com/learn/lesson/self-fulfillment-overview-history.html#:~:text=is%20fully%2Dfunctioning.-,Importance%20of%20Self%2DFulfillment,with%20their%20values%20and%20ambitions.

The United States Supreme Court

    Established in 1789,  the Supreme Court of the United States ensures equal justice for the American people. It is the highest federal court in the country. The Supreme Court is made up of nine justices that dedicate their entire lives to the court system. I personally have never been well educated on the Supreme Court system and these videos sparked an interest that I did not know I had. 

    The history of the Supreme Court was fascinating. When the Supreme Court was created in 1801, something unheard of happened; under John Marshall, an act of congress was struck down as unconstitutional for the first time. Under Marshalls leadership, the Supreme Court earned great public respect. 20 years later, the Dred Scott Decision was made and is a huge bookmark in American History. The court rides on the constitution to help them come to decisions. 

    I love learning from Ruth Bader Ginsburg shortly in this video. She discussed the differences between the current constitution and the constitution that existed before the Bill of Rights was added. We did not even have the 19th amendment that protects a woman's right to vote. 

    The most important thing that I took away from these videos is that sometimes bills need to be updated as times change. Although, usually, I believe that things like the constitution should not be changed, I now understand how important it is to be checked and modernized. 

    I was very surprised to see how personable the Supreme Court justices are. Before watching these videos, I always thought of the justices to be tough, old and cruel. It was eye-opening to see these people work so hard to protect the people and make thoughtful, conscious decisions.

     These videos thoroughly changed my view of the Supreme Court. Although they have been under heat on the news, they truly are doing what they know to be best for this country. They are the most powerful court system in the world, which is unbelievable knowing that they do not abuse this power. I gained a lot of respect and interest in the Supreme Court. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWRoXYRsaeo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca8qSuWxcG8

    

My Top 5 News Sources

 1. Barstool Sports Podcasts

Podcasts in general are my favorite source of information and learning. Barstool Sports really blows the podcast game out of the water. Every single one of their productions are well thought out, researched, on top of current news and hilarious. At current, Barstool has released 31 podcasts that have all become extremely successful. If you have not listened to any podcasts produced by Barstool, I would suggest starting with "BFFs" starring Dave Portnoy, Josh Richards, and Brianna Chickenfry. If this show does not pull you in, I do not know what will!

2. Fox News Instagram

The second favorite source for daily news is the Fox News main Instagram page. This channel supplies updates on politics, Hollywood scandals, sports, social media, and other major stories. Although Fox News receives a lot of heat for being conservative, I think they are the quickest news channel to deliver interesting stories. I am able to hear about the news first through their speedy social media, while also doing my own research on the topic.

3. Twitter

Twitter is by far the fastest acting social media. If there is breaking news, you know your twitter feed is going to be blowing up. @cnnbrk and @TheEconomist are both great resources for news on Twitter. I suggest putting on your post notifications to stay up to date on all of the current news. 

4. Tik Tok

Although Tik Tok is mostly used for light entertainment, it is an excellent resource for a quick news with a lot of details. There are specific accounts that can be followed to keep up with different genres of news like politics, celebrities, global news, etc. You are also able to search specific topics that you would like to know more about and thousands of videos will be at your fingertips. For example, when Gabby Petito was missing, Tik Tok was flooded with video updates regarding the case. During that time, it was an excellent way to keep updated and quickly. 

5. Snapchat

Finally, Snapchat is a great way to quickly receive important news. The recently added discover page provides dozens of news stories a day. You can subscribe to the ones that interest you the most to pin them on the top of the page. After you subscribe to certain channels, the rest of your discover page then caters to your interests. They cover sports, politics, scandals, beauty, and much more. I would recommend snapchat for a quick update throughout the day.