after years of being absent from youtube
leafy came back and within months he was
banned from the website
many people are speculating that his ban
was from his multiple videos on pokeman
and although leafy was memeing on ethan
klein from h3h3 productions
ethan may have been right that leafy
wouldn't last on the platform the way it
currently is
there's a lot of unproven speculation
that ethan or pokeman
had something to do with his ban but
that's not what we're going to be
discussing in this video
leafy's band has started a debate within
the youtube commentary community
and many people are divided on one side
you have commentary channels like scarce
and others
saying that this is bad for all creators
on the other side
leon lush another big commentary channel
released a video taking the opposing
viewpoint
in scarce's tweet he said the following
even if you weren't a fan of his videos
leafy's termination is very very
concerning leafy being terminated now
means
any of us could be next another
commentary creator named optimus
had a similar argument that said not
sure how much longer i'll be on youtube
gotta take the time to make sure you're
enjoying it as it happens and trust me
i'm doing my best you see situations
like leafy and realize
how much the commentary community has
been messed with
all year it won't be long folks
but in leon lush's video he argued that
he doesn't believe this is the case
and as a commentary channel himself he
has quite a bit of skin in the game
you see john scarce put up a john scarce
put up a tweet hold on a second
even if he weren't a fan of his videos
leafy's termination is very very
very concerning leafy being terminated
now means any of us could be next
that seems a little bit fear-mongering
john don't you think like
you can still make commentary on things
on youtube you can still criticize
things on youtube
maybe just don't make like six videos in
a week
about the same chick talking about her
looks like a bunch
you know i'm saying like i'm not trying
to defend pokeman i don't know her
personally i don't really even know the
situation that well i'm sure
she's she made an apology video recently
for handling some situations poorly
and certainly i am fully fully
uh in support of criticism and being
able to talk about other people on the
internet because that's what i do for my
living
but i do think there is a point there is
a
right way and a wrong way to go about it
in our last video we debunked q anon
covet conspiracies
so i thought that right now would be the
perfect time to expand
upon the slippery slope logical fallacy
although when we typically hear the word
argument we think of two people
bickering at one another
but the reality is is that arguments are
just two sides with opposing views
each argument has the potential to
persuade audiences so it's important
that we are aware
of what separates a good from a bad
argument
oftentimes logical fallacies are used to
try and strengthen an argument
but when you put them under the
microscope it doesn't actually prove a
person's point
those in q anon use the slippery slope
fallacy all the time
they regularly argue that we shouldn't
have to wear masks
as we discussed in the previous video
they argue
that this is a means of control they say
that mandating that we wear masks can
lead to more government control
they'd have you believe that wearing the
mask today to slow down a global
pandemic
will lead to a secret service member
moving into your house and telling you
what you can
and can't watch on tv conservatives
often use the slippery slope logical
fallacy when it comes to debates
around gun rights and abortion laws so
although the scarce and leon debate may
just seem like silly internet drama
about leafy
this is a time for us to sharpen our
critical thinking skills because logical
fallacies can pop
up anywhere in this video we're going to
start by dissecting the slippery slope
logical fallacy and learn why it's not a
valid tool
for critical thinkers in a debate then
we're going to discuss
how to counter the slippery slope
logical fallacy in an argument
as well as ways to discuss the slippery
slope without
being irrational but before we get
started if you're new to the rewired
soul
make sure you subscribe and ring that
notification bell here we practice
critical thinking and skepticism
to improve our emotional intelligence
and overall well-being
this specific fallacy builds off the
idea of cause and effect
if a then b many fallacies are hard to
spot
because they have a slight essence of a
logical argument
we can point to many examples of cause
and effect for example
granted there are no flaws with the
machinery if i flip this light switch
then the light will turn on and if i
turn this doorknob
then the door will open but the slippery
slope logical fallacy
takes this to an extreme with no
provable evidence
the slippery slope argument says if a
then b and if b then c and if
c then z this is the argument of an
alarmist
and the goal is to incite the powerful
emotion of fear into those
who hear the argument due to the fact
that the argument is on a shaky
foundation
the person hopes that they'll persuade
people by giving them a dose of fear
in the context of a leafy ban commentary
channels like scarce are saying that if
leafy can get banned
then no commentary channel is safe and
if no commentary channel is safe
then this impedes on our freedom of
speech and the freedom of press
and if no commentary channels are safe
then the platform will turn into nothing
but family vlogs
prank channels and slime challenges leon
lush did a good job backing his argument
by pointing out the updated terms of
services
by youtube and making it very clear that
they're going to draw some lines
there youtube's anti-harassment policy
like got beefed up beefed up last year
and and i quote
the policy now bans targeted harassment
campaigns the company told me that
harassment on youtube often doesn't come
down to a single insult and said it's a
sustained effort over many videos
under the new policy youtube will now
take a more holistic view of what a
creator is saying on the channel even if
individual videos don't necessarily
cross the line
if they still contribute to the
persecution of another person or creator
they're eligible for removal so you
could argue the semantics over what
leafy said in his videos was he really
saying things that were harassing
i haven't watched probably over 90 of it
i popped in on one of them
uh i think he does talk about her looks
in one of them though but even if he's
like
you know what i'm saying this this
policy right here is grounds for removal
because there's no question that leafy
making five or six videos on her caused
her to get harassed
and again don't forget that leon lush is
a commentary channel
and this is his primary source of income
leon is a husband and a father
so if he felt that scarce's argument
held any weight
he'd definitely speak up the premise of
this argument
is that we need freedom of the press to
keep those in power accountable
but they have no evidence that leafy's
ban could take us down
this path if you remember from our
conversation about conservative morals
they often rely on this logic because
their traditional list
and believe that the 200 year old
constitution
was never meant to be changed but this
is absurd because written at the same
time
was the federalist papers which
discussed how the constitution
will need to be updated over time
neglecting the federalist papers
conservatives use the slippery slope
fallacy to argue against common sense
gun laws and abortion rights
following the slippery slope fallacy
formula of if a
then b and if b then z conservatives
will argue that
any common sense gun laws will lead to
abolishing gun rights as a whole
they argue that universal background
checks and not selling guns to people
with a history of violence
will then lead to nobody in the country
being allowed to own a gun
although liberals will say that this is
not what they want
conservatives use the slippery slope
logical fallacy to say that this is
where it will lead
they do the same thing with abortion
laws conservatives will try and have you
believe
that a woman's right to choose will lead
to a culture where
murder is tolerated even if you get a
pro-lifer to admit
that a first-term fetus is nowhere near
human consciousness
they'll say it's a slippery slope
pro-lifers will
argue that if we allow abortion early on
then we'll eventually allow
late-term abortions and if we allow
late-term abortions we might as well
allow the murder of innocent toddlers
this is a ridiculous argument especially
because many pro-lifers
are also fans of the military-industrial
complex
which kills thousands of innocent
children in other countries
but we don't have time to dive into that
in this video
so if scarce and other commentary
channels are going to use flawed
arguments
by turning to the slippery slope fallacy
how do we combat it to have better
conversations
i personally don't know if leon lush
took a speech in debate class
but he ran a master class on how to
debunk the slippery slope logical
fallacy
when someone presents you with a
slippery slope logical fallacy simply
ask them to connect those dots
because the problem with this argument
is that there's no evidence
that point b will lead to point z when
you have a person attempt to make these
connections
it begins to sound a little bit more
irrational sometimes in a one-on-one
debate
you'll persuade your opponent to see the
flaws in their argument
but not always but in a world where
we're all on social media
the goal of your argument may be to
persuade the audience
and not the person that you're debating
this is why it's great that leon lush
took the time
to put this in a video because he's
showing a massive audience the flaws
in the slippery slope argument if i were
to coach someone in a debate against
someone like scarce or optimist
i'd have them ask the opponent to
present the evidence
that something like this could happen
where all
commentary channels could get banned on
the side of debunking this fallacy we
have plenty of evidence
that this slope isn't nearly as slippery
as people want you to believe
and we have plenty of examples too one
year ago the youtuber alfie days
interviewed youtube ceo susan wojcicki
for his channel
during his hour-long interview alfie
brought up the topic of bullying and
harassment
susan then discussed how they're
constantly having conversations
about what is legitimate criticism and
what constitutes bullying and harassment
after this interview many people in the
commentary community did exactly what
they're doing right now
saying that they're all in danger yet
it's been a year and 99
of them still have channels a few months
later
in december youtube updated its
anti-bullying and harassment policies
not long after that idubbbz content cop
about leafy
was taken down again the commentary
community turned into chicken little
saying that the sky was falling but
again not much change for a majority of
them
but it's been nine months since that
happened and this is the first
major action we've seen youtube take in
the realm of anti-bullying and
harassment
now some of you may argue that this is
proof of the slippery slope
but that's completely irrational all we
have is proof
that youtube is enforcing a rule that
they implemented
nine months ago just like when certain
businesses made
mass mandatory and started asking people
to leave their establishments it was
merely enforcement of a rule so when
someone is trying to use a slippery
self-logical fallacy against you
ask them to lay out the line of
reasoning and feel free to bring up the
fact that they're using this fallacy
in some cases they may be able to prove
their point in a rational way
maybe you assume it was the slippery
slope fallacy
but they were just connecting a to b and
have evidence rather than taking b
to z someone who i think does a good job
of this
is kyle kalinski from secular talk
although kyle is one of the most
progressive voices out there
he believes that conservatives deserve
the right to free speech
when alex jones was banned from the
platform kyle argued that this was bad
for everyone
now some would say that kyle is using
the slippery slope logical fallacy
but when we put his argument under the
microscope it holds up
he explains how the only allegiance
social media companies have
is to the almighty dollar kyle argues
that social media companies
need to do a better job being
transparent when it comes to how
certain conspiracy videos violate the
terms of service
because liberals are a risk too for
example conservatives argue that there
are many liberal conspiracy theorists
even though there's proof kyle is a
liberal who has personally had videos
censored
for simply reporting the news about
global wars because some call them
conspiracies
even though there is evidence kyle's
argument isn't that de-platforming alex
jones means that all
commentary and news channels will be the
platform he argues that liberals
shouldn't celebrate too much
thinking that they're invincible when it
comes to this censorship
kyle avoids the slippery slope fallacy
by giving evidence of a to b
without jumping to z personally i'm a
huge believer in freedom of speech
i also believe that even though there
are people like leafy
who aren't serving some greater moral
good there are plenty of channels
trying to raise awareness while also
poking fun
leon lush danny gonzalez jarvis johnson
and
others are completely different than
leafy some
have even said that leafy is no
different than shows like last week
tonight
or the daily show but this is a false
equivalent
whereas these creators and show hosts
have a moral compass
leafy doesn't mind just sitting back and
watching the world burn
all right everybody thank you once again
for making it all the way through this
video essay
i hope you enjoyed it i thought this was
going to be a good way to tie in what we
talked about in the last video about the
q and on
uh covid conspiracies and speaking of
some like logical fallacies
especially the slippery slope that is
used so much if you want leave a comment
down below of like
an example of a slippery slope that
you've heard where you're like
i don't see it getting that bad but
anyways as
always i have linked some books down in
the description i
always link books i love me some books
so there's some books in there about
like uh logical fallacies about
uh arguments you know like i
i i really open up my eyes like what an
argument is like
in more of the context of like a debate
you know and it helps me
have better conversations and kind of
see the other side and all those things
before i just like go out all
willy-nilly because like i said like
a lot of the stuff that we're doing and
like trying to practice with critical
thinking
is to improve our own emotional
intelligence because we when we get
heated
or passionate about something like our
rationality just
flies out the window you know what i
mean so anyways if you want check out
some of the books
down below anyways that's all i got for
this video if you like this video please
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you to everybody supporting the channel
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the rewired soul.com and as i was
recording the outro why it came over and
started roping up on my legs so ryan
says bye too
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