05-24-2004, 01:04 PM
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#31
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Contributor
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Los Angeles area
Posts: 40,549
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Dahlia Lithwick on the slippery slope argument
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Another problem with the slippery slope objections to gay marriage is that they present a moving target. No two opponents of gay marriage seem to agree upon where this parade of horribles begins or ends. You can order your comparisons off the Santorum Menu ("bigamy, polygamy, incest, adultery"), the Scalia Menu ("bigamy, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity"), or off the James Dobson Menu, in which all of the above evils ensue, plus the demise of heterosexual marriage altogether. Call this argument the horse-and-elephant leavings, smoking on the ground after the parade of horribles has passed by. No one can plausibly explain why the entire institution of marriage is at risk from gay unions. Which raises yet another objection to slippery slope arguments: These are projections into an unknowable future.
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