SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: A slippery slope all the way to ... the point of no return?

Manic Street Preachers had a hit song in 1998 with a variation on a theme of slippery slopes.

The future teaches you to be alone
The present to be afraid and cold
"So if I can shoot rabbits then I can shoot fascists"

Bullets for your brain today
But we'll forget it all again
Monuments put from pen to paper
Turns me into a gutless wonder

And if you tolerate this then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this then your children will be next
Will be next, will be next, will be next

The song is about the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, saying in essence that if "we" tolerate fascism somewhere else by not assisting in the fight against it, as with supporting the legally elected government in Spain at the time as it was engaged in a life-or-death struggle against Franco's insurgency, fascism will be victorious, gain strength and visit our own homes.

As you probably already know, Franco won the war with the assistance of Hitler and Mussolini (the Soviet Union supplied the Republicans). Subsequently the proxy Guernica atrocity became a mere prelude to far worse elsewhere -- but does this fact alone confirm the slope's slipperiness, or were there too many other unknowable variables to be so sure?

Here is one definition of the slippery slope.

A slippery slope is an argument that suggests that a certain initial action could lead to a chain of events with a relatively extreme result, or that if we treat one case a certain way then we will have to treat more extreme cases the same way too. For example, a slippery slope argument could involve saying that if we allow a relatively minor event to take place now, then a major and tragic event will happen in the near future as a result.

The Guardian warns that usually the logic behind the slippery slope concept is fallacious.

In the field of informal logic, the slippery-slope argument is a fallacy when the endpoint does not follow necessarily from the initial step, which is especially obvious if there are many (unidentified) intervening stages involved.

However, the newspaper acknowledges a degree of attitudinal sense to the notion of a slippery slope.

The most sensible thing that can be meant by an appeal to slippery slopes is not a truth about the dynamics of public policy, but rather a worry about our moral psychology. The idea must be that, if we all get used to this one new thing being allowed, we will be less able to resist a slightly more alarming thing in the future.

Or, the way to boil a frog alive one degree at a time.

This all arises because earlier today, while writing, I contemplated the use of "slippery slope" to describe a certain situation. Before doing so, it seemed it might be useful to know more about the term, and after researching it, my understanding has improved.

However I kept "slippery slope" in the essay because I feel the context is appropriate.

To me, using "slippery slope" never implied absolute determinism -- that the initial step always would lead to an alarming outcome. Rather, my interpretation has been that by undertaking the first step, conditions for the outcome were being made possible and encouraged, as when you learn that it's hell getting the genie back in the bottle.

Wouldn't you like to think it through first, before taking a step that might be irreversible?

Never mind. The slippery slope already has brought me to the Kenny Rogers Theorem, coming tomorrow.

Great moments in silent film: Michael Dalby throws Kerry Stemler a lifeline.

Did anyone notice that in the end, when it came to clarifying the relationship of One Southern Indiana with Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana, Michael Dalby duly took responsibility for acknowledging the slippery slope that 1SI chairman of the board Kerry Stemler, not Dalby himself, originally commenced sliding down at the ROCK press conference?

Some accountability, eh?

But I want to sincerely thank Mr. Dalby yet again for contributing his comments, and this is the last I have to say about it ... until the next fork in the road comes along, and we're forced to choose between the two paths.

One Southern Indiana's Michael Dalby: " ... A response was needed to clarify our position."

Background: How it came about that One Southern Indiana’s Michael Dalby contributed today's statement to NA Confidential.

R.O.C.K. on, One Southern Indiana ... but first, please answer these inconvenient questions.

Jim Morrison’s stone dead, but he still gets it right:

Strange days have found us
Strange days have tracked us down
They’re going to destroy
Our casual joys
We shall go on playing
Or find a new town

Having concluded a revealing week during which One Southern Indiana unabashedly promoted a partisan Republican campaign stop conducted by sitting and failed president, the combined “economic development” agency has inched further down a very slippery slope by aligning itself publicly with an anti-pornography lobby group.

As you read these extended excerpts from the Tribune’s coverage, understand that I’m making no attempt to blithely dismiss the hidden costs to human dignity that are inherent in the substantial business of adult entertainment, but know that if I’m asked to select which of two videos is “pornographic” – the first depicting sex between adults and the second surveying the carnage on any battlefield – my choice falls squarely on the latter.

And, when religious groups take the field over matters like this, check the locks on the public library. Literature and other manifestations of free thought are sure to be next, and accordingly, what part of economic development does censorship enhance ... unless, of course, one lives in China or Zimbabwe.

Group fighting adult businesses with ‘someone’s daughter’ campaign, by David Mann (News and Tribune).

A Louisville-based group is continuing its campaign against adult businesses with a new billboard along Interstate 65.

The group — Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana, or ROCK as they’re commonly known — held a press conference and unveiled the new sign Wednesday morning …

… Kerry Stemler, board chairman of economic development agency One Southern Indiana, was at Wednesday’s event. He commented that his organization is on board with ROCK because what it is working for effects economic development and the group is doing it in a very appropriate way.

“We do see the value of good, quality communities,” he said. “(ROCK) really works towards the end goal that we are trying to achieve.”

However, he added that because of the religious implications that ROCK carries with it, One Southern Indiana will not be “on the front lines” with them.

Adult businesses can be barred from joining the chamber of commerce, Stemler said. If such a business wanted to join, it would be a board decision and he would recommend that they not be allowed.

Stemler believes that adult businesses do hinder economic development because “not everybody wants to be right next to that.”

“I think it’s had a negative impact on that Veterans Parkway corridor” where adult video store Theatair X is located. He said few businesses have located near the theater and that most of the development has been the other side of the parkway.

Stated simply, chairman Stemler’s responses raise far more questions than they answer.

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What are the components of “good, quality” communities?

Are these components dependent on a specific religious or cultural perspective, or is there room for other perspectives?

If the chairman is able to perceive “religious implications” to the group’s activities, why does this suggest that 1SI should refrain from the “front lines” and not suggest that it should refrain from participating, period?

If 1SI is to introduce a moral perspective to economic development issues, couldn’t it be that there a moral perspective to exurban development issues, whether from a Christian or any other religion’s point of view?

For adult businesses to “hinder” economic development, shouldn’t we as residents of Southern Indiana possess a shared view of what economic development means?

If we must discuss what economic development means, is there a chance that this discussion might proceed at odds with 1SI’s primarily exurban definition?

Might is not be possible that for an adult business, a strip mall, an greenfield development and a downtown bridge alike, that “not everybody wants to be right next to that?”

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Kerry Stemler and 1SI apparently have little sense that they’ve embarked on a messy pratfall down these slippery slopes, and that absence of awareness is what I've found appalling throughout the current week.

Perhaps absolute power does corrupt absolutely, but be that as it may, wouldn’t you think that someone else or some other organization (hint, hint … I belong to such a group) purporting to support economic development might subject 1SI to just a bit of the same public scrutiny that we’re pursuing here at this otherwise lowly blog?