Blog Post #3: Speech Theories
Speech Theories
The eight ideals of free speech are important because they are at the heart of democratic societies and the protection of individual freedoms. These values include a wide range of ideas that are important for open and inclusive societies to work and protect against dictatorship, censorship, and the weakening of democratic standards. Each of these values, like promoting different points of view, encouraging public debate, and making sure people are held accountable, is a key part of upholding the principles of free expression that are important for protecting human rights, advancing knowledge, and making constitutional societies thrive around the world. By looking at these eight ideals, we can learn more about how important freedom of speech is in a world that is linked and changing quickly.
I chose to focus on the sixth value of free expression, Promote Tolerance (Promote Tolerance — see Lee Bollinger, The Tolerant Society: Freedom of Speech and Extremist Speech) This particular value felt the most important and personal to me. As a social virtue, tolerance includes being open-minded, respecting differences, and being ready to talk with people who have different opinions. It is the foundation of democratic societies because it allows people with different views, backgrounds, and ideas to live together peacefully. Promoting tolerance is more important than ever in a world where people are becoming more divided and radical ideas are on the rise.
To make the connection between social media/communications to the value that I chose, I picked ESPN as an example. ESPN is an important part of American society and communication because it is the best place to get sports news and content. ESPN brings together sports fans by showing a lot of different sports, live events, expert analysis, and interesting stories. It also gives people a place to talk about bigger issues in society. It's a way for people to share memories, a source of information, and a place to talk about culture. This makes it an important part of the American media and communication landscape and shows how much sports have changed our society.
To elaborate, a situation close to home gave me a real-life example of this value that hit me hard. My mother, Sage Steele, worked at ESPN for 16 years as a reporter, sports commentator, and sports host. She left in August of this year. She has always been clear about what she thinks about politics on her personal social media pages, but she has never talked about it at work. In October 2021, ESPN made a rule that all employees had to get vaccinated. My mom didn't want to get the vaccine, but she still did it because ESPN asked her to. She wanted to keep her job so she could keep taking care of our family, so she went against her better judgment. In 2021, my mom talked about the mandate on a show that had nothing to do with ESPN. She said some things that got her in trouble. She said that she respects a person's decision about whether or not to get the Covid-19 vaccine, but that forcing people to get it is “sick” and “scares me” (http://www.si.com/media/2023/08/15/sage-steele-leaving-espn-after-settling-lawsuit ). Because of this, ESPN asked her to leave for two weeks without pay and pulled her from several events she had always covered, both inside and outside of ESPN. Yes, she talked about the company she worked for. However, in the past, ESPN has let many other employees in similar jobs as my mother speak out about political issues like abortion, race, and gender. They did this by using ESPN property and employees to broadcast and share their opinions. Because my mother had different ideas about the vaccine and her political views were well known, ESPN punished her for saying what she personally believed.
To get back to the main point of tolerance, it was very interesting for me to watch from the outside as ESPN was extremely tolerant of opposite political views as my mother spoke out about, but was extremely harsh on her when she spoke out about her thoughts. ESPN only tolerates one side of politics, and it is not the way my mom thinks, and she felt as if it was wrongful to punish people for speaking out about certain issues when other (more tolerated) talking points are allowed because of where they stand politically. My mother ended up suing ESPN for breaching her contract and violating her civil rights, and won. She soon left ESPN after (https://theathletic.com/4781334/2023/08/16/sage-steele-espn-lawsuit-settlement/).
My mother’s lawsuit against ESPN shows how important it is for the media business to follow the rules that apply under the sixth value of free expression. Her lawsuit shows that there may have been problems at ESPN that went against the beliefs of acceptance and openness. Even though the details of the case may be complicated and up for court review, it is fair to say that creating a tolerant workplace is not only the right thing to do, but also the law.
When people feel like their rights and respect have been violated because of discriminatory, behavior, going to court can be an appropriate choice. By doing this, people like my mom try to get their superiors to take responsibility and solve any problems they see. This fits with the value of promoting tolerance because it shows how important it is for groups to deal with and fix problems like discrimination, harassment, or being left out.
My mother’s choice to sue ESPN can be looked at in the context of promoting tolerance because it shows how important it is to create workplaces where everyone feels welcome and respected. In this situation, tolerance means respecting the rights and equality of all people, no matter where they come from, and dealing with problems like discrimination or exclusion. Legal actions like my mother’s can help hold organizations responsible and start conversations about diversity and inclusion. In the end, people, groups, and society as a whole need to work together to create a more tolerant and accepting community.
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