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Slippery slope is only a fallacy when you have very limited, often a single, data point. You could say using the Emergencies Act is only a single data point or

Slippery slope is only a fallacy when you have very limited, often a single, data point. You could say using the Emergencies Act is only a single data point or you could say giving in to the authoritarian nature of power hungry politicians has endless data points. If one sees the Emergencies Act as a subset of power hungry politicians, there are already more than enough data points to see where the slope leads. Even before the pandemic there were already plenty of data points to establish that PM Trudeau and his cabinet are power hungry authoritarians. It pretty much comes with the position.

KennyBlanken 5y ago
> "A slippery slope argument (SSA), in logic, critical thinking, political rhetoric, and caselaw, is an argument in which a party asserts that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant (usually negative) effect" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope > In a slippery slope argument, a course of action is rejected because, with little or no evidence, one insists that it will lead to a chain reaction resulting in an undesirable end or ends. The slippery slope involves an acceptance of a succession of events without direct evidence that this course of events will happen. https://www.txstate.edu/philosophy/resources/fallacy-definitions/Slippery-Slope.html https://www.txstate.edu/philosophy/resources/fallacy-definit... > The two primary forms of the slippery slope argument are the logical form, (in which acceptance of A must logically lead to acceptance of the undesirable B), and the psychological form, in which it is argued that the acceptance of A will, over time, lead people to be more willing to accept B. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Slippery_slope https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Slippery_slope Also: general hand-waving like "based on this government's track record" does not a pattern make. Like most of my cited sources say: "based on little or no supporting evidence."
- nostrebored 5y ago
  The slippery slope argument requires a slope. In your opinion what the parent comment said is a radical departure from what's currently happening. Personally, I don't think that a government which stamps out protest and bank accounts of political rivals is anywhere but at the bottom of the slope. I've lived in Africa and I've seen how this goes.
- beardedetim 5y ago
  I agree and am wondering for my own edification: What _would_ make a pattern? Is it possible to make any negative predictions without falling into the Slippery Slope?

KennyBlanken 5y ago

> "A slippery slope argument (SSA), in logic, critical thinking, political rhetoric, and caselaw, is an argument in which a party asserts that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant (usually negative) effect" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope > In a slippery slope argument, a course of action is rejected because, with little or no evidence, one insists that it will lead to a chain reaction resulting in an undesirable end or ends. The slippery slope involves an acceptance of a succession of events without direct evidence that this course of events will happen. https://www.txstate.edu/philosophy/resources/fallacy-definitions/Slippery-Slope.html https://www.txstate.edu/philosophy/resources/fallacy-definit... > The two primary forms of the slippery slope argument are the logical form, (in which acceptance of A must logically lead to acceptance of the undesirable B), and the psychological form, in which it is argued that the acceptance of A will, over time, lead people to be more willing to accept B. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Slippery_slope https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Slippery_slope Also: general hand-waving like "based on this government's track record" does not a pattern make. Like most of my cited sources say: "based on little or no supporting evidence."

nostrebored 5y ago
The slippery slope argument requires a slope. In your opinion what the parent comment said is a radical departure from what's currently happening. Personally, I don't think that a government which stamps out protest and bank accounts of political rivals is anywhere but at the bottom of the slope. I've lived in Africa and I've seen how this goes.
beardedetim 5y ago
I agree and am wondering for my own edification: What _would_ make a pattern? Is it possible to make any negative predictions without falling into the Slippery Slope?