The Importance of Promoting Innovation

 

          All eight values of free expression speak to me, as I recognize the important of living in a country that gives its citizens fundamental rights. As a Broadcast Journalism major and theatre minor, promoting innovation is extremely important to me. If free speech was not protected under the constitution, I would have picked another major and minor. The idea behind promoting innovation is that when free speech is valued and protected, the community will be more energized, creative and interesting because they will actively fulfill themselves in many diverse and interesting ways. As a journalism major, I exercise my freedom of speech by constantly jotting down topics and events that interest me. I then interview people and write feature pieces on what is going on. The reason why people read these articles and the articles that are on various news sources, is because they are unfiltered and true. Free speech gives journalists the capability to push the limits without constantly looking behind their back with the worry they might go to prison. The pieces that are remembered in history are the ones that uncover some scandalous government secret or the exposés on powerful members of society. None of these would be written without our first amendment right. Journalists are able to write what they want and thus the world of journalism keeps innovating and pushing the boundaries of what journalism is.

    Another aspect of promoting innovation that is important to me is performing arts. My minor is theatre and I love to attend and be in shows that are powerful and have a message. Most of the time, the shows are very innovative because the artist choose to take a risk. For example, Hamilton is one of the most famous broadway musicals ever made. Lin-Manuel Miranda write the show and took some extremely big innovative risks. Instead of only focusing on Alexander Hamilton's positive contributions to the government, he took a deeper look into his personal life. This made audience's realize that he wasn't just some untouchable hero that they previously thought. This show probably wouldn't have been written so harshly if free speech wasn't protected. Speaking poorly about the government can get people into a lot of trouble in other countries.  The very culture of the United States of America is built on an influx of ideas and colorful speech. Free speech is arguably the most important right given to us as citizens of the United States. A nation where millions of people are not afraid to speak their mind fosters a society that is continually changing for the better.