Blog Post 6#

 

Image of the Antiwar movement

Throughout American history, disagreement with government policy has been an important part of public debate. The First Amendment protects Americans' ability to express their opinions, including opinions that challenge government decisions. This becomes especially important during wartime, when criticizing military actions can be unpopular or controversial.

The Progressive Era provides an important example of what can happen when dissenting voices are suppressed. During World War I, antiwar Americans opposed the country's involvement in the conflict. Many of these people were persecuted for expressing their views, and hundreds were imprisoned simply for voicing their opposition to the war. This history shows why freedom of speech is important. A marketplace of ideas cannot function if people are afraid to express unpopular opinions.

The issue remains relevant today. Websites such as Antiwar.com and The American Conservative provide platforms for writers who strongly question U.S. military operations and foreign policy. These websites give readers access to perspectives that may not receive the same attention in mainstream news.

This raises an important question: Why do people sometimes have to actively search for antiwar perspectives? The existence of these websites shows that strong antiwar opinions are available, but they may not always be part of the news that people encounter in their everyday lives. Someone who primarily gets news from large mainstream outlets may encounter many discussions about military operations without encountering the same amount of antiwar commentary. That doesn't technically mean that antiwar writers are being deliberately excluded. It does, however, show why people need to be willing to look beyond the sources they normally encounter.
.

The First Amendment protects a person's right to express an opinion, but it does not guarantee that every opinion will receive equal media attention. A person can legally criticize a war without guaranteeing that television networks, newspapers or social media platforms will give that criticism prominent coverage. Especially if they are biased or supported to a specific party.

The history of the Progressive Era also provides an important warning. When dissent is punished instead of being debated, society loses an important part of public discussion. Antiwar voices do not have to be universally accepted to have a place in that discussion. Their role is to question government decisions and provide another perspective.

Ultimately, the ability to criticize war is an important part of freedom of expression. Whether people agree with antiwar writers or not, seeking out different perspectives can help create a more informed public conversation. 

___________________________________________________________________________________AI Disclosure: I used ChatGPT to assist me with this blog post. I instructed ChatGPT to write a professional journalist style blog post about antiwar voices using only the directions and sources I provided. I specifically told ChatGPT not to use any other sources from the internet and to keep the blog post between 300 and 400 words. After ChatGPT generated the draft, I reviewed and edited it to fit my actual thoughts.

Blog Post #5

Journal #5

Technology has become an important part of everyday life, but it also creates serious questions about privacy. The Ted talk videos a saw for this discussion show how information shared online can have lasting consequences and how people, companies, and governments can potentially use technology to monitor or expose others. Privacy is becoming one of the most difficult issues of the digital age, because much of our personal information exists in a digital world that can be difficult to control.

One major issue is the information people voluntarily put online. What may seem like a harmless post, picture, or personal detail can remain part of a person's online life. Juan Enriquez's TED Talk, Your Online Life, Permanent as a Tattoo, discusses how our digital lives can have a lasting presence. This is important for college students because the things we share online can become part of our identity and potentially affect our future.

The problem becomes even more serious when someone's privacy is violated intentionally. Darieth Chisolm's How Revenge Porn Turns Lives Upside Down shows how technology can be used to humiliate and harm another person. A privacy violation can be frightening, humiliating, degrading, maddening, and depressing. These problems do not only affect one person. They can also affect their friends, family, and relationships.

The videos also raise questions about surveillance. Christopher Soghoian's How to Avoid Surveillance...With Your Phone demonstrates that phones and technology can create concerns about being monitored. Glenn Greenwald's Why Privacy Matters also emphasizes why privacy is important. These issues raise an important question about what role the government should have. Governments should take privacy seriously and work to protect people from unnecessary invasions of their personal information while recognizing the concerns that come with increasingly powerful technology.

Individuals also have responsibilities when it comes to protecting their privacy. We should think carefully about what we share online and understand that information posted digitally may be difficult to take back. We should also be aware of how technology can potentially be used to monitor or expose us.

Privacy is no longer simply about keeping something hidden. It is about having control over personal information in a world where technology is everywhere. The videos demonstrate that technology can be wonderful when used responsibly, but it can also become harmful when it is turned against people. Protecting privacy therefore requires awareness from individuals, responsible behavior from organizations, and serious consideration from governments.

___________________________________________________________________________________ AI Disclosure: I used ChatGPT to help organize and improve the writing of my blog post. The information and ideas used in the post were based on my notes and the videos provided in the instructions, as well as an extra Ted Talks video involving privacy I found. No outside sources or information were added by the AI and I reviewed the AI generated content to make sure it accurately reflected the information provided and fit my opinion. I then reviewed and edited the final version of my blog post, before I submitted it.

Blog Post 3#

 

    When I think about free expression, I picture an elaborate art piece (Like the Mona Lisa), a piece of music, someone wearing whatever they want, or a sandbox game (like Minecraft). As a future game designer, that’s where my voice actually lives. So when I saw the Eight Values of Free Expression, the one that hit me the hardest was Individual Self Fulfillment. C. Edwin Baker describes free expression as “Speech or other self expressive conduct is protected not as a means to achieve a collective good but because of its value to the individual”. That’s exactly what game design feels like to me.

    When I create a game, I’m not just placing objects or writing code. I’m shaping a world that reflects who I am and what I love. I think about games like Celeste, where the creator explored anxiety and self‑acceptance through gameplay. Or God of War, which uses narrative to talk about being a better person. Throughout the two games the main character (Kratos) repeats the same line “We must be better”. These games aren’t just entertainment, they’re personal expressions. They show how free speech lets people turn their experiences into something others can connect with.

Image of Twitch Chat

I also see individual self fulfillment in the communities around games. Discord servers, Twitch streams, modding forums, these are places where people build identity together. Twitch streamers create new forms of community online, and I’ve seen that myself. People share art, stories, jokes, and sometimes even their struggles. Free expression makes those spaces possible. Without it, game culture wouldn’t exist the way it does.

    The second theory that feels important to me is Check on Governmental Power. This one becomes extremely important when you look at how governments treat games and online platforms. For example, Reuters has reported on China tightening rules on video games, limiting releases and restricting content they consider “unhealthy.” That’s a direct example of a government controlling dialogue. Games get banned, stories get changed, and creators lose their voice. it’s the direct opposite of self fulfillment.

    Even in the U.S., debates about TikTok bans show how fragile digital speech can be. If the government blocks platforms or controls someone's internet access, it interferes with the “marketplace of ideas.” And when that happens, it’s a market failure. Game design depends on open dialogue, tutorials, feedback, collaboration, modding, streaming. If those channels get restricted, creativity gets restricted too.

Logo of Animal Crossing

There are also moments when games become tools for checking government power. During the Hong Kong protests, people used Animal Crossing to share political messages when public gatherings were limited. Reporters Without Borders even built the “Uncensored Library” inside Minecraft to store banned journalism. Using games as the medium, you can push back against censorship.

My ability to create depends on my ability to speak, my ability to learn depends on open access to communities, and my ability to grow depends on being able to express myself without fear. These theories feel personal because the reason I can imagine new worlds and share them with others is thanks to Free Speech.

My Top Five Sources of News

 

The logo of YouTube

1. YouTube

I mainly use YouTube if I want to find any news, I do so because I use YouTube almost every day. I like using it because I find it to be easy and simple to find whatever information I need. By going to the search bar, I write in it in a specific way, so I get exactly what I want. I recommend you try using this source because it isn't very complicated and you get a video for whatever information you want to find.

2. Google

Since Google owns YouTube, their search engines are very similar. I use google for a lot things, but I also use it for news sources, whenever I want to look for an image or an article then I use Google to find it. Google can give you access to a countless list of news sources, if you neede to search anything  I recommend this source because it has a borderline endless amount of information, so whenever you need information about a topic, use Google

3. Instagram 

I use Instagram to search for news and to search for hpu events. Similar to my other top sources, you can search for news by typing in whatever you want in the search bar. Instagram also have videos that you can watch, so whenever I need to look for a short video about a topic I can just search for it. I recommend this source because it is very simple like the other to sources and you are able to find videos about your topic.

4. X

I use this source as well to find anything. Its very similar to Instagram, you can watch short and long videos, search for images, and search for political figures who have accounts on there. There are news articles, public files, and posts of political figures. I recommend this source because it actually has a bigger political scene than Instagram and has more sources that you can only get here.

5. ESPN

I use this source whenever I want to find sports news. I sports drama so this is basically a gold mine for me, but it is also effective if you want to find anything sports events and dramas. They extensive discussions about players and the current state of a sport. I recommend this source if you need to look for anything involving sports.

Blog Post 2#

I didn’t expect a 20‑minute video on the U.S. Supreme Court to leave me thinking about footprints, but that’s exactly what happened. I knew the Court interpreted the Constitution, sure, but I had no idea there have been just over a hundred justices in its entire history. Somehow that number felt both huge and tiny at the same time.

What really surprised me was learning that new justices show up only about every sixteen years. That’s wild. It means the Court changes slowly, almost like it’s built to resist quick swings in the political weather.

There was a moment in the video where the camera lingered behind Chief Justice John Marshall’s statue, and there’s a quote carved into the wall behind him. I couldn’t help thinking about how many

major cases have passed under that quote. One of the biggest was the Dred Scott case, which helped push the country toward the Civil War and declared enslaved people couldn’t be citizens. It’s strange to think about the Court facing something that heavy.

The Court gets around 7,000 cases a year, but only about a hundred are accepted. I didn’t realize the justices actually meet to discuss whether a petition deserves their attention. It feels almost like a gatekeeping ritual, deciding which issues rise high enough to shape the country.

And then there’s this detail I loved: the nine justices shake hands before sitting down. I think that small gesture says a lot. Even with all the disagreements and tension, they start from a place of respect.

I also didn’t know the Supreme Court made the judicial branch as powerful as the others. They can review actions from every branch and decide whether something is constitutional. That’s a huge responsibility, and honestly, I never thought about how much power that gives them.

By the end of the video, I kept coming back to that idea of footprints. Every justice leaves something behind, something that makes change a little harder — or maybe a little clearer. It made me see the Court not as a distant institution, but as a place where people make choices that echo for generations.

___________________________________________

AI DISCLOSURE: This post was a collaboration using Microsoft copilot. I took detailed notes while watching a video of the supreme court. In addition to facts that I learned, I emphasize my facts and opinions, I then asked copilot to help me improve the text by correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation. I then asked Copilot to help me shape the text into a blog post format. After reviewing the text, I added links to related recourses, as well as appropriate images and captions.

___________________________________________

WATCH THE VIDEO NOW