What are Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs are images and designs that are carved into rocks that were used to before any language was popularized. They portrayed a variety to different things like stories, events, plans, and beliefs. They are also extremely hard to make as you has to scratch and engrave lines into the darker outer layer of rock to reveal the light lower layer. Petroglyphs are not the same as pictographs and it's actually because of this destructive creation process that we can still find and discover old petroglyphs, but cant find any old pictographs. The depth and longevity of the petroglyph varies based on the method used. You can either scratch the rock by using a smaller sharper rock to make shallow designs, pecking which uses a hammer and chisel like tool which allows for extremely detailed designs, and carving which uses a larger tool to create large and jagged designs into the rock. Of course the deeper the Petroglyph means that it will last longer. The use of petroglyphs varied greatly, but of course to us all the way in the future their main use was to allow us to experience the culture of the people who created the specific petroglyphs.

Petroglyphs were made by many different people all across the world but most known to Americans would be the Native Americans. For example, at the Petroglyph National Monument in New Mexico there is 17 miles of territory with 25,000 still standing petroglyph designs all made by the ancestors of todays Pueblo people. The petroglyph from this culture show us stories on hunting and gathering but more importantly we see depictions of practices, traditions, and even gods. More often then not a petroglyph will have a symbol that was believed to have religious meaning to their culture. In a more historical sense the petroglyphs in the Rio Grande Valley also explained and depicted the arrival of Spanish settlers in 1540.

Petroglyphs changed communications because it was a way to capture something for a long time for many other people to see and understand. Being able to leave a message or design on the rocks allowed them to remember stories, teach each other about lessons and events, as well as communicate to neighbors or other tribes. Petroglyphs was also used in more aggressive ways to mark territories like threatening and insulting other people. It had so many different and creative uses, it was like a big piece of paper that for their lifetime never get rid of their contents obviously useful for maps, schedules, reminders, and things they constantly needed to be aware of. After petroglyphs the sociability of humans took a big step forward and allowed for more expression. As humans we are beings who function off of social connections especially today with our technology. In history petroglyphs was their ancestors way of to create, strengthen, and manage social connections for survival and prosperity.

8 Values of Free Expression

When talking about free expression there are 8 values that are listed to be the core principles of free expression. The 8 values are: Marketplace of Ideas, Participation in Self-Government, Stable Government, Individual Self-Fulfillment, Check on Governmental Power, Promote Tolerance, Promote Innovation and Protect Dissent. The theory that resonates the most with me is the Promote Tolerance theory. I believe that a tolerant society is a healthy society. Just like the definition, extending freedom of speech to speech that may insult or make others feel uncomfortable allows for us to adapt and become tolerant to such speech. This structures the norms of our society, as well as lessens the impact of harmful speech. This is something that I've always believed and I have never known it to be an actual theory. The way our government has been behaving for some time it seems like a tolerant society is no longer a society they have an interest in. They would rather throw blankets over us and cushion the country so they can hear what they want to hear. For example during Covid-19 the best scientists from all over the world gathered together to create a document called The Great Barrington Declaration that was meant to give insight and information on Covid-19. This document was critiqued and ridiculed by the government and it was then disregarded as information that was more harmful than good. This is an example of the government wanting the people to hear what they want them to hear. 

   

In terms of activity I see the Marketplace of Ideas in action all day every day. The concept that falsehood is needed to strengthen the truth is probably the strongest and most stable theory out of the 8 presented. It has been continuously supported time and time again. Especially with how common falsehood and false narratives are spread these days it only strengthens the theory. It is because of this free expression theory that we as a society are able to constantly progress and search to find the real answered to questions and problems. If we believed the first thing we heard or decided then I wonder where we would be today? We would not have discovered that the earth revolves around the sun (just a random example of using falsehoods to fuel the truth), and in a more grand scope I don't even believe the average person would know how to think for themselves. It is because we can take in information and build upon it that makes this value so prominent.

In terms of the importance of free speech, it really is the most basic building block of our prosperous society. Humans are social creatures, and the ability to socialize using what we want, how we want, and when we want only adds to the intricate ways we can learn, grow, and adapt. All 8 of the values of free expression are important and practiced on a day to day basis, it allows for our society to constantly keep moving forward to the ideal society that was dreamt of by our founders. 

Supreme Court Reflection

     

In these last two semesters I've learned quite a bit about the Supreme Court. I've learned about the history of the Supreme Court, the highs and the lows. To this day I still manage to learn more and more about the Supreme Court. From the part 1 and part 2 of the videos, I learned that even to this present day the power that the supreme court has is only the power give to them by the other branches of government. This is interesting to me because it highlights that even the power to create laws and interpret the constitution is not an absolute power. In fact nothing is an absolute power here in America, it is a very interesting and in depth system. From this in depth system I believe that the most important take away about the Supreme Court is that specific power of creating laws and interpreting the constitution. There is no other person, or group of people who have this power to shape and order the country. It's because of this power that they have that makes the Supreme Court so respected and trusted.

The most surprising thing I learned about the Supreme Court was that they can choose where and when to apply their power. It's called certiorari and this gives the Supreme Court the ability to pick and choose which cases they take on to help order the country in different ways. Not only this but also the fact that they cannot create a law without there being a case that presents and issue. Before learning about this aspect of the court I assumed they would create new laws solely based on the world today to shape America's order how they wanted. This seems like a far more fair application of their power. The video definitely helped me understand the dedication the Supreme Court has for this country and its founding documents. I've grown to respect the court and the decisions that they make as I believe they make them to further progress the country.

My Top 5 Sources of News

   

In terms of news my number one source is definitely IGN. IGN is a news network for anything video game related. This is perfect for my career which is in the creation of video games, the ability to stay up to date on constantly evolving news in the video game world is a blessing in disguise. I like IGN specifically because not only do they update with the latest news, they also review new games, shows based on games, and even movies. It's a versatile news source for anyone invested in staying updated on the latest news for all sorts of online entertainment!

    

My second favorite source of news is TikTok and I know for my generation this may come as no surprise. My reasoning may be a tad bit different from my peers but I like TikTok because of the personalization of the algorithm. The only other social media/news source with personalization that can arguably rival it is X. I use TikTok daily just for entertaining content, or for finding out real people's opinions on specific and niche topics. On TikTok there is a community for everyone and it's possible to witness and participate in all of these communities.

    

My third favorite news source is X. The reason I like X is because even after it was bought and changed from Twitter it still has some good core functions for accurate news. For example the community notes which can debunk false news, as well as the AI incorporated into the app being somewhat helpful with its function. Another aspect I enjoy and probably the main reason I use it is for its community feature. You can join different groups of people and can all post to each other news that is decided on by the specific community. They have anime communities, food communities, game communities, basically if it has a fanbase then there is a community for it. The best way to get news is from each other in my opinion (after it's fact checked of course).

    

In fourth place on my list of news is Reddit. It functions similarly to X but the main difference being censorship. Reddit tends to have more lenient guidelines so you can consume news that otherwise wouldn't be available on more public news sites. The reason it fell so low is because X is a better version of reddit, the community of frequent gave the app a negative connotation, and most of the news threads tend to be locked which limits interaction with the news. Regardless of these shortcomings I still believe it is a viable source of information that spans infinitely. I regard it more as a public discussion application about news topics, and its more common use today as a public question forum.

    

In last place of my personal news ranking I have to go with ESPN. As a sports fan myself I use ESPN to stay up to date on constant college, and professional level sports news. ESPN is a family favorite, it's a classic and is probably my most biased news source on this list. I like ESPN because it is what I grew up watching and it is efficient and does its job well. Not to mention they also broadcast live sports and commentate over them. Live sports are definitely one of the top 3 sources of entertainment in America right now, no debate necessary.