Slippery Slope Arguments in History: David Hume

From Hume's Of the Liberty of the Press (1742):

It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Slavery has so frightful an aspect to men accustomed to freedom that it must steal in upon them by degrees and must disguise itself in a thousand shapes in order to be received.

Comments

[wreckinball]

Wow great quote.

"its for your safety" seems to the theme of Covid tyranny, common sense gun laws, hate speech is not free speech to name a few

[apedad]

"its for your safety" seems to the theme. . . .

No, I'd say the theme is, "It's for OUR safety," as in:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

[wreckinball]

You forgot the Bill of Rights part most notably 1A and 2A. Which limit government authority. Which could become unfettered with very liberal interpretation of words like common Welfare. Thus they are qualified.

[Ed Grinberg]

government authority...could become unfettered

But you don't understand! Apedad & Co. are so enlightened, it's OK for them to have unfettered authority over you!

[wreckinball]

These slippery slope posts are fun because those who are pushing us down the slope so vehemently deny they are. When its completely obvious.

[Sarcastr0]

Thinking to yourself something is obvious is not the same as that thing being true.

I've noted you often state things that others point out to be untrue.

[wreckinball]

Oh well, you and others are often wrong. I know its shocking.

[apedad]

The past 240 years of progress actually prove you're on the wrong side.

[wreckinball]

Go on. Your post proves nothing. Like "NO it doesn't".,

[Sarcastr0]

Yep! I'm wrong a lot!!

This is why I try not to claim stuff with certainty without some kind of source to back it up.

Easy for me - mostly I don't build edifices here, I just poke at other people's unsupported narratives.
It's a living!

[wreckinball]

Some things are also just opinions. To me its obvious to others maybe not.

[Cal Cetín]

"mostly I don't build edifices here, I just poke at other people's unsupported narratives"

Good job, Suck-rates.

[bernard11]

Being human, we are all fallible. This includes you.

[Stephen Lathrop]

Lordy be, looks like Hume saw EV coming, with his, "common carrier," shackles to constrain press freedom.

[ah....Clem]

Are we going to get a post on the behavior of a frog in a slowly heating pot of water?

[Ed Grinberg]

I can almost hear Sarcastr0 going: "What do you mean the water is getting warmer?! You're crazy!"

[Cal Cetín]

Full context:

"It is a very comfortable reflection to the lovers of liberty, that this peculiar privilege of Britain [liberty of the press] is of a kind that cannot easily be wrested from us, and must last as long as our government remains in any degree free and independent. It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Slavery has so frightful an aspect to men accustomed to freedom, that it must steal in upon them by degrees, and must disguise itself in a thousand shapes in order to be received. But if the liberty of the press ever be lost, it must be lost at once. The general laws against sedition and libelling are at present as strong as they possibly can be made. Nothing can impose a further restraint but either the clapping an imprimatur [prior restraint] upon the press, or the giving very large discretionary powers to the court to punish whatever displeases them. But these concessions would be such a barefaced violation of liberty, that they will probably be the last efforts of a despotic government. We may conclude that the liberty of Britain is gone for ever when these attempts shall succeed."

https://advocatetanmoy.com/2019/05/06/of-the-liberty-of-the-press-david-hume/

I did a search and discovered, from numerous sources, that complaints of censorship in the UK are lying right-wing propaganda, so I guess Hume is right, and free press is fine in the UK.

[Gandydancer]

Don't conflate what you allegedly "discovered" with what Hume actually said.

[Cal Cetín]

Apparently I didn't /sarc up my remarks enough.

[ReaderY]

Since people who want to enslave you are obviously Really Bad People, this is consistent with my general argument that slippery slope arguments tend to be used only when the person making the argument regards the the people on the other side as Really Bad People.

And since the world actually has Really Bad People who actually have worked their evil in gradual stages, a slippery slope argument is valid when the underlying assumptions are true.