{"id":41975,"date":"2018-04-27T15:23:07","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T14:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=41975"},"modified":"2018-06-01T14:17:09","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T13:17:09","slug":"neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2018\/04\/27\/neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Neville Goodman&#8217;s metaphor watch: A slip-up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/02\/neville_goodman.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-33270\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/02\/neville_goodman-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"neville_goodman\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was inevitable, in the recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/assisted-dying\">cluster of articles about assisted dying<\/a>, that the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">slippery slope<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> would be mentioned. I referred to it when discussing Pandora\u2019s Box (q.v.), and quoted <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2015\/apr\/02\/why-we-should-avoid-the-slippery-slope\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Steven Poole<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guardian<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: it is a \u201cmetaphor that is a logical fallacy, grossly overused, and possibly referring to the difficulty of getting uphill rather than the peril of sliding down.\u201d I dismiss his last reason. It may be true that the phrase emerged as the difficulty of getting uphill, but objecting to its current use on those grounds is akin to demanding that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">decimate<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> means to kill one in ten or <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">hierarchy<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> applies only to angels.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But his first two reasons stand. As Poole points out, if the law is changed to allow mitochondrial transfer, that does not in any sense allow some other, possibly grotesque, scientific manipulation of a baby\u2019s genetic makeup. The slippery slope is \u201canti-rational fearmongering\u2026 that the wielder supposes to function as a knockout argument\u201d. What is or is not allowed must be preceded by rational discussion of its risks and benefits, though that is becoming less easy in this time of instant offence and manufactured outrage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For all that Poole thinks<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> slippery slope<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> overused\u2014and I agree with him\u2014there are only about 200 in PubMed\u00ae, and some of those are physical rather than ethical slopes. In a paper about cardiac repolarization, the idea was put forward that the normal may become the pathological. In another, the slope was from gestational diabetes to established diabetes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But most slopes are ethical, and Google Scholar\u00ae gives 100 000 results. Just <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">slippery slope logical fallacy<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> notches up 14 000, and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">conjoined twins slippery slopes<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> 17 000, so I hesitate to get too detailed or philosophical in my criticism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My main objection is that it is a lazy argument, requiring nothing more than emotional dismissal. However, even though I am happy to apply <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">hierarchy<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to any ranking by status, and not just to angels, I would be delighted to have the opportunity of taking Poole\u2019s advice and say, \u201cYes, but I think we can get there if we really try!\u201d when some \u201cbloviating windbag complains that a proposed policy is on a \u2018slippery slope\u2019\u201d. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bloviate<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is of US origin, and means (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">COD<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">) to talk at length, especially in an inflated or empty way. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Neville Goodman<\/strong>\u00a0is a retired consultant anaesthetist and a writer. He is co-author of a book on medical English.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong>\u00a0I have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare that my only competing interest is my co-authorship of a book about medical English.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was inevitable, in the recent cluster of articles about assisted dying, that the slippery slope would be mentioned. I referred to it when discussing Pandora\u2019s Box (q.v.), and quoted [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2018\/04\/27\/neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5763],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-metaphor-watch"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Neville Goodman&#039;s metaphor watch: A slip-up - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2018\/04\/27\/neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Neville Goodman&#039;s metaphor watch: A slip-up - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was inevitable, in the recent cluster of articles about assisted dying, that the slippery slope would be mentioned. I referred to it when discussing Pandora\u2019s Box (q.v.), and quoted [...]More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2018\/04\/27\/neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-27T14:23:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-01T13:17:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/02\/neville_goodman-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/27\\\/neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/27\\\/neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\"},\"headline\":\"Neville Goodman&#8217;s metaphor watch: A slip-up\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-27T14:23:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-01T13:17:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/27\\\/neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":438,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/27\\\/neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/neville_goodman-150x150.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Metaphor watch\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/27\\\/neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/27\\\/neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/27\\\/neville-goodmans-metaphor-watch-a-slip-up\\\/\",\"name\":\"Neville Goodman's metaphor watch: A slip-up - 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