Do These Steps Look Too Treacherous for an Old Guy to Walk Down?
Ed Buckner
Accusations that someone has made a slippery slope argument abound, as have carelessness about making such accusations.
Consider—
A. The increase in anti-semitic sentiment and acts since 7 October 2023 means a return of Nazi society will happen.
B. If Donald Trump is elected in November to return to power, our democratic republic will be doomed.
C. If Vice President Kamala Harris is elected President on 5 November, Venezuelan style socialism is inevitable.
D. The large proportion of Americans in the US who own guns means mass school shootings will just keep happening.
E. If the US doesn’t increase its weapons and ammunition support to Ukraine, Poland and NATO better prepare for a Russian invasion.
F. A vote for Kamala Harris means Israel will be supplied with more weapons and ammo to kill innocent Palestinians.
G. Not voting for Kamala Harris means Israel won’t be supplied with more weapons and ammo to kill innocent Palestinians.
H. Voting for one of the two main candidates—Harris or Trump—will perpetuate the duopoly.
I. Staying away from the polls on 5 November and withholding one’s vote will be a vote for Trump.
J. Letting undocumented immigrants into the US will lead to more crime, including stealing and eating pets.
K. Letting undocumented immigrants into the US will lead to more voting by non-citizens.
L. God is punishing the USA with forest fires and hurricanes for turning away from Him and failing to repent of our sin in doing so.
Do some of the above—the ones you agree with?—seem truer than others?
Am I warranted in being mighty careful about going down the steps shown in the first picture above?
Am I implying that none of those statements—A through L—are true? Are all slippery slope arguments equally foolish?
Slippery Slope Fallacy
A slippery slope fallacy occurs when someone claims that a position or decision will lead to a series of unintended negative consequences. These negative consequences are often bad and/or increasingly outlandish. The person using the slippery slope fallacy takes these consequences as a certainty and does not analyze the logic of their own position. A slippery slope fallacy can be used as a deflection to avoid discussing the merits of a position, shifting the field of debate.
Often, a slippery slope fallacy is used in conjunction with an appeal to fear.
— https://owl.excelsior.edu/argument-and-critical-thinking/logical-fallacies/logical-fallacies-slippery-slope/
All twelve of the statements I asserted above are slippery slope statements on each of their faces. But context matters. If any of the statements is presented in context as a probable outcome and accompanied by further reasonable statements and evidence that support the real possibility that the outcome could come about, then the slippery slope fallacy is avoided.
Discussions of this fallacy often involve claims regarding free speech—and I recommend this essay from Greg Lukianoff, the President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression—
https://quillette.com/2024/09/12/answers-to-12-bad-anti-free-speech-arguments/
And if you want some brilliant analysis rooted in history of J—the immigrants eating pets nonsense—read this from Heather Cox Richardson—
To go back to the first statement—A—as an example, if I write of data that supports the idea that anti-semitism is on the rise since last fall and show historical parallels to the 1920s and 1930s in Germany and change just one word in the statement— “will” to “could”—
A. The increase in anti-semitic sentiment and acts since 7 October 2023 means a return of Nazi society could happen.
then I have not committed the fallacy. That would not by itself be sufficient to make the statement true, though if the changes were credible and well supported (and I think they are, for what it’s worth) and especially if I changed that one word, I can be said to have made a reasonable case. The difference is that the reader can then weigh whether the conclusion is reasonable.
Some of the dozen statements are far more unreasonable—far more clear examples of slippery-slopism—than others. It depends heavily not merely on changing a conclusive word to a tentative one but on providing good supporting logic and evidence.
So, let’s be careful out there.
I didn’t take the first photo and don’t know the full circumstances under which it was taken. But I doubt seriously that anyone, especially an old guy with balance problems, should approach and descend those steps carelessly.
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