The values of free expression

Promote tolerance is the idea that freedom of speech, more specifically hate speech, or speech we find personally upsetting, makes us more tolerant to other ideas. When we listen, and more importantly understand what other people believe, we become more tolerant. A more tolerant society is better as we become more accepting of others who aren’t exactly like us. It’s important to live in a world where we have the freedom to express our own opinions even if they are negative or hateful towards our government. This is how we learn to accept others by listening to others' ideas. 

Recently Charlie Kirk, a right wing political activist, was shot and killed on a college campus while debating students. He went around to different college campuses and would have college students come up and try to change his ideas on politics, while also trying to convince them of his ideas. It is good to debate and to make these college kids think about why they truly support what they support. Charlie was promoting tolerance, he would sit and listen to other people's ideas as well as share his ideas with  

Charlie Kirk at a debate

college students while they tried to change each other's minds. 

I think Charlie going around sharing his ideas and listening to others was exactly what we should be doing, debating, and hearing other people out. Everyone has the first amendment right to speak freely, and believe what they want to believe in. Kirk “believed in the potential and promise of young people,” she said. “He inspired millions of them to get involved in politics and fight for our nation’s conservative values.” He believed in tolerance, he wanted young kids to get involved in politics and debate.   

Promote tolerance allows for diversity in our society, we all have our own beliefs and opinions, and even if they are similar to others they aren’t exactly the same. Not only should we be tolerant of other people's political ideas, but we should be tolerant of other people's cultures. “Tolerance is about opening your heart to accept others as they are even if they don’t look like you, act like you, have the same values and beliefs as you, and yes, even when they upset and annoy you.” 

Tolerance is something our society has been struggling with since the beginning of time. From slavery, to segregation, and jim crow laws, our society is always striving to be more tolerant, even today. We need to be more tolerant of our people and their ideas. People should be able to express their beliefs and not get murdered for that, or hurt for just being themselves. 

Tolerance is very important in our society today, we need to be able to accept others even if they look different, or believe different things than us. Not everything has a right and a wrong, some things are just opinions, and just because someone has a different opinion than you doesn’t mean they're wrong. The government doesn’t need to get involved if we learn to tolerate each other and our ideas. We want a marketplace of ideas, where the government doesn’t have to get involved but we can’t have that unless we are tolerant of each other. With a marketplace of ideas we can find the best ideas and thrive together as a society.