First Amendment

    Found expressly in the Constitution, our First Amendment rights are some of the strongest fundamental personal rights we have and while First Amendment protection is not absolute nor does it serve as a shield against laws of general applicability, it is important to preserve the idea of free speech in every aspect of our lives. With the growing popularity of using social media platforms to voice political views, the topic of free speech or expression on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, or Tik Tok has frequented headlines of news media. 

    The struggle advocates of free expression on social media are facing is based on the State Action Doctrine establishing that without government involvement, no constitutional claim can be made of a violation of First Amendment Rights because only the government can violate constitutional rights, so the First Amendment does not apply to private actors. Therefore, if a social media company decides to censor or ban a user from their platform, it has authority to do so without violating an individual's foundational right to free speech. 

    Though there has not been a violation of Constitutional rights found in censorship, it is interesting to consider why platforms like Twitter have chosen to silence, at the time, the President of the United States, and not the Chinese Communist party. I find even more curiosity in forming an answer to why media outlets and journalists in particular, are pushing for more censorship causing a herd mentality on several  censored platforms. Is the purpose of journalism not to voice all opinions and express all sides of stories journalists release? With this question in mind, I cannot seem to understand why journalists would want some people in the industry to be silenced for their views and others to have free expression without consequence.   

    💥Research from the Pew Research Center provides an interesting study which 💥 shows the difference between the people's political views and whether or not they feel their views have been censored by social media outlets. You can find this data in the link below!

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/08/19/most-americans-think-social-media-sites-censor-political-viewpoints/

    For another look into the censorship of social media platforms, the Freedom Forum Institute has created a detailed scale, ranking several social media sites on their censorship from low to high depending on categories or types of censorship. When it came to "misinformation" commonly referred to as "fake news", Youtube and Twitter had the highest levels of censorship.  

The U.S. Supreme Court

     Since 1789, the United States Supreme Court has transformed its role in legislation by interpreting the constitution and creating precedent with each decision the justices come to. The Supreme Court's specific power was established after its creation in 1803 when the Marshall Court was faced with the case Marbury v Madison. Their decision in this case was a turning point in history, because the Supreme Court used the principle of checks and balances to rule Madison's demand for SCOTUS as unconstitutional, and struck down the Judiciary Act of 1789 as unconstitutional for "extend[ing] the Court’s original jurisdiction beyond that which Article III, Section 2, established" according to the case's summary on Oyez. 

📌 To see more details regarding Marbury v Madison, its Oyez summary is a great source 📌 

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1789-1850/5us137

    This case built the framework for the Supreme Court's present day purpose because it established Judicial Review as the court's power to deem all actions of parts of government and laws constitutional or not. Since Marbury v Madison, the Supreme Court has used judicial review to come to decisions on new cases concerning the constitutionality of actions the government has taken and set new precedents that impact future application of the constitution to those cases. 

    The Supreme court holds a very prestigious reputation because they are the final say in matters that progress to their level of jurisdiction. What the Supreme Court decides remains as that interpretation of the Constitution until another similar case is brought up through the court system or until congress passes a new law because SCOTUS usually acts with stare decisis. This principle means that once the Supreme Court makes a precedent, they do not want to stray from it to maintain consistency and stability throughout the nation. So, one decision can impact years of prosecution at the lower court level and lawmaking at the local, state, and federal levels. Such combination of precedent and stare decisis has been defined as judicial restraint meaning the Supreme Court chooses to show slow or no change at all in their interpretations of the Constitution. 

    Though many scholars argue for the Supreme Court to use Judicial Activism to create rapid change in law or overturn past precedent, it is important to consider the consequences such sweeping change could have. Our Constitution was intended to provide a stable and lasting government which would be threatened by too much inconsistency in law making and enforcement. It is within the power of Congress to carry the role of creating laws, which can be used to spark more rapid change, whereas the Supreme Court creates precedent case by case. 

📌 For more detail on the functions of the United States Supreme Court, this article from 📌

History.com is a great source. 

https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts  

The Illusory Truth Effect

    The Illusory Truth Effect is a phenomena we encounter every day whether we are aware of its influence over us or not. The effect happens through repetition, and is explained in an article by Psychology Today as "repeating a statement increases the belief that it’s true even when the statement is actually false"(Pierre, 2020). Such repetition of information increases the target audience's familiarity of the statement, and ultimately leads those people to believing what they are told. In a world where advertising bombards us on every media platform in existence, the Illusory Truth Effect is something everyone should be conscious of before putting their full faith into any piece of information posted on the internet. 

     Often unaware of the Illusory Effect's power over consumers, companies use the phenomena to their advantage as a marketing strategy. Catchy slogan's such as "Subway: Eat Fresh" or "M&M: Melts in Your Mouth" are just a few prominent examples of widely known slogans used by Subway and M&M because of their repetition on television commercials or other advertisements. Our learned association with Subway's ingredients being fresh, as we are told in their ad, has influenced thousands of consumers that their ingredients must be in fact, fresh. However, after being exposed in 2014, Subway announced they would be removing a certain chemical which was used in their bread. The same chemical used to make styrofoam, shoe soles, and yoga mats. Perhaps Subway isn't as fresh as they have claimed for years, but the slogan has been engrained in the minds of so many that it is hard for people even with prior knowledge of their faults to erase their slogan's permanent mark.  

❗For a closer look into Subway's exposure, check out the article below❗

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/subway-takes-chemical-sandwich-bread-protest/story?id=22373414#:~:text=Feb.,signatures%20in%20a%20petition%20drive. 

       The Illusory Truth Effect is used in other aspects of our lives, especially in the realm of politics. Political campaigns are centered around a candidates appeal to the public, so their primary campaign platforms and slogans are repeated over the course of a campaign trail, to familiarize voters with their promises made to the people. By reaching targeted demographics of potential voters, slogans such as "Make America Great Again" and "Build Back Better" are repeated on social media platforms, at rallies, on merchandise, and in speeches to familiarize viewers with the platform. In the heat of political debates, those slogans are commonly used by candidates supporters who the slogans resonate with to defend their candidate of choice and provide reason for their support. 

             

    A more concerning aspect of the Illusory Truth Effect theory is that even when we hear information repeatedly from unreliable sources or false information altogether, we are still influenced into believing its truth because of our gained familiarity with the information. This may even cause us to discount new information, which may be true, which is also mentioned in the article above from Psychology Today. Even more shockingly, the Illusory truth effect impacts people most when someone perceives themselves to be knowledgeable of the topic OR even if the someone hearing the information has prior knowledge that that information is false. With this in mind, it is even more important for new information to spark skepticism in our thought process before placing trust into random online resources. 

           ❗For further insight into the use of political propaganda using the Illusory Truth Effect,  ❗                                                               read this article from Psychology Today

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/202001/illusory-truth-lies-and-political-propaganda-part-1

    As you continue surrounding yourself with a tremendous amount of advertising and online influencing, I want to pose a challenge. Next time you see a claim made from an apposing viewpoint of your political beliefs, health ideologies, or even religious values, dig deeper into finding statistics or studies to provide more information before re-affirming your own thoughts. If we take that step, perhaps we will find more common ground amongst dividing topics in our nation. Maybe we will even discover for ourselves that we have fallen victim time and time again, to the clever sloganeering used by every successful marketing strategist in history.