I Hate an "It's-a-Slippery-Slope" MFer
Why 'slippery slope' is the laziest argument against regulation and what we actually risk by doing nothing."
Every time someone brings up imposing a new law/regulation on something, there is always one person piping about “slippery slopes”.
If that’s you, not gonna be nice about it: you are intellectually lazy and annoying. You’re also not providing a solution, just bitching.
Laws and regulations are necessary for the safe and proper functioning of society. Why would you protest something meant to keep you safe? Probably propaganda. If you live in most Western countries, you have enjoyed a lifetime of voting and free speech. And in all that time, laws and regulations were being passed. Why are you now suddenly worried about losing all your rights every time someone suggests imposing guidelines on something that has shown itself to cause harm?
Also, people never consider the slippery slope of not passing a law/regulation. And in fact, not only is that probably worse, but that is actually happening and wreaking havoc on your right to live.
If we loosen environmental protections or fail to keep up with changes, your environment gets poisoned. The longer we delay regulating AI, someone can take a photo of you or your child and use it to make porn. If we don’t put limits around what kind of content people put online and a standard it must be held to, we are going to continue having anti-vaxxers push misinformation that puts all of us at risk.
When laws are written, they are made publicly available before they are passed for anyone to see, read, and comment on through their elected official. That’s how a democratic government works; use it (I’m a little less confident for Americans but still, give ‘em a ring). And the process to pass these bills is long and full of debate. This is not something that gets passed in the middle of the night in secret, with absolutely no control. If a law regulating something imposed an unreasonable restriction on your civil liberties, you could see it in the bill and then take steps to voice your concern.
Also, trust your guardrails. Bad laws are always getting overturned/struck down by courts.
We cannot live in a constant mentality of “what if the worst happens”. What if the best happens? And think deeply on who is protected by refusing to address problems in our society. Actually, I’ll just tell you: it’s not us, the people - it’s corporations and evildoers who count on “well, it’s not illegal” to guide their decisions instead of ethics.
We stand to actually lose our rights and security if we continue to let corporations run unchecked. They’ve shown time and time again they can’t be trusted to act responsibly without rules. We see it with human rights violations, toxic waste dumping, overthrowing democratically elected leaders of countries for natural resources, etc.
We need better privacy laws. We need stronger competition laws. We need laws that protect people, the land around us, and the future of our economy and children. Regulations are good, and if you want to know what good government oversight looks like, look no further than the way rich people and corporations have actually done a fantastic job of showing us through securities law. Because investing is a big part of how they build wealth, they don’t mind the intense scrutiny and oversight.
A major component of securities law is that information conveyed to investors, potential or otherwise, must be fully transparent. The reason taking a company public is so damn expensive is the relentless scrutiny various professionals apply to ensure that whatever the company says is true. There are dedicated securities tribunals that levy HEAVY fines. A few years ago, a man gave a presentation to investors that contained misleading information, and he was hit with a $1 million fine by the Ontario Securities Commission. Companies have paid less for leaking customer information or dumping toxic waste.
Laws and regulations are supposed to protect the rights and well-being of the people. Passing something to protect those values is worth considering every time. It does not help us to ignore growing problems because of a propaganda talking point of “slippery slopes”. The real slippery slope is not doing anything and continuing to let corporations run unchecked while abusing our rights, privacy, and being.
