You know, oddly enough, the "slippery slope argument" DOES hold water. . .

[xiphias]

One of the arguments which people used to argue against interracial marriage was that it was a slippery slope. If you let blacks and whites marry, why, then, eventually, GAYS might be able to marry, too!

And they DID. Just two generations later!

Now people are arguing that gay marriage is going to be a slippery slope leading to allowing polygamy.

Well.

What of it? If people decide to do that, I feel confident that they will do so because they will believe that it is morally and ethically correct to do so.

Comments

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

>they would quickly find the territory full of landmines in respect to benefits, legal rights, insurance, and so on.

One friend admitted that while he opposed gay marriage on the grounds that that's simply not what he thinks about when he thinks of the word marriage, he also thinks we shouldn't legalize gay marriage because he didn't think our current setup could afford to extend all the various benefits to same-sex partners too.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

To which my answer is "change the setup rather than denying people basic civil rights", but well, y'know, I'm one of them filthy communists.

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

:::screams:::!!!

But tjen we don't have quite the giant, top-heavy running-dog infrastructure in our countries.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

oh I agree. He would agree too if he thought this were a perfect world but he thinks of himself as a hardened realist who sees what's actually possible in this world.

hardened realism

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

i'm a hardened realist too, but the test is whether i'm only one when i've already got mine, or whether i can handle it when i end up with the short end of the stick.

Re: hardened realism

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

:)
He's gotten the short end of the stick in other areas so I imagine he figures every group gets its share of the short shrift. I'm not agreeing with the guy...just...he's not an "I've got mine" kind of guy.