2 8 8cHaP Te r 1 3 ■ F a l l a c i e s o f V a g u e n e s s- Explain and evaluate the following argument against restrictions on hate
speech:
To attempt to craft free speech exceptions only for racist speech would create a sig-
nificant risk of a slide down the proverbial “slippery slope.”... Censorial conse-
quences could result from many proposed or adopted university policies, including
the Stanford code, which sanctions speech intended to “insult or stigmatize” on the
basis of race or other prohibited grounds. For example, certain feminists suggest that
all heterosexual sex is rape because heterosexual men are aggressors who operate
in a cultural climate of pervasive sexism and violence against women. Aren’t these
feminists insulting or stigmatizing heterosexual men on the basis of their sex and
sexual orientation? And how about a Holocaust survivor who blames all (“Aryan”)
Germans for their collaboration during World War II? Doesn’t this insinuation insult
and stigmatize on the basis of national and ethnic origin? And surely we can think of
numerous other examples that would have to give us pause.^3 - Explain and evaluate the following response to critics of college restrictions
on hate speech:
[Defenders of such restrictions] will ask whether an educational institution does not
have the power... to enact reasonable regulations aimed at assuring equal person-
hood on campus. If one characterizes the issue this way,... a different set of slopes
will look slippery. If we do not intervene to protect equality here, what will the next
outrage be?^4 - When John Stewart interviewed William Bennett (former Secretary of
Education under President Ronald Reagan) about gay marriage, both of
them used slippery slopes and responded to each other’s slippery slopes in
the following exchange. What kinds of slippery slopes did they use? Was
either argument better than the other? Was either response better than the
other? Why or why not?
Discussion Questions- Marijuana should be illegal, because people who try marijuana are likely
to go on to try hashish, and then snorting cocaine, and then freebasing
cocaine or shooting heroin. - The government should not put any new restrictions on free trade,
because once they place some restrictions, they will place more and more
until foreign trade is so limited that our own economy will suffer. - Governments should never bargain with any terrorist. Once they do, they
will have to bargain with every other terrorist who comes along. - If assault weapons are banned, Congress will ban handguns next, and
then rifles. Eventually, hunters will not be able to hunt, and law-abiding
citizens will have no way to defend themselves against criminals.
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