Godwin's Law

[nemafakei]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

Any more interesiting tendancies?

[VigilVirus]

I think this law was made by nazis trying to save themselves from blame...

;D  ;)

[Dude_Doc]

Koenig's Theory:

No matter what the original subject of the conversation and regardless of what movie is being discussed, the probability of any and every thread on the IMDb message boards that becomes an ongoing discussion becoming an argument about America (pros, cons, etc.) reaches one.

LoL.

[GUNWOUNDS]

quote:

Many people have extended Godwin's Law to imply that the invoking of the Nazis as a debating tactic (in any argument not directly related to World War II or the Holocaust) automatically loses the argument, simply because the nature of these events is such that any comparison to any event less serious than genocide or extinction is invalid and in poor taste.

hah... glad someone else recognizes this folly as well.  Score for the good guys.

[nemafakei]

The usual misplaced analogy which leads your own stance to be rubbished is:

- You say/do X

- Hitler did X

- Therefore you are like Hitler

- Hitler was wrong/evil

- Therefore you are wrong/evil

It's just ridiculously funny when someone tries to do this:

- I support X

(Above argument is attempted by opposition)

- Yes, I accept Hitler did X

- But Hitler was in many ways quite good for Germany

- Therefore, X is good/right.

I can't think of any instances from Fed2k, but I've listened to the hole being dug.

Analogies have to be very carefully constructed when seriously used for a political point.

[Caid Ivik]

This is something like "if you buy more sheep, there is higher probability, that one of them will be black". Well yes, Godwin has discovered a perfect pattern in the nature, but what the hell is it for? Isn't this just a plain waste of cyberspace? I think this may be a problem only in very antigerman society, which has problems with understanding the fact that Hitler was a human same as them, and that anyone of them might once do the same.

So, fangen wir an!  ;D

[Megashrap]

Heh, I like this one..Meldrum's Corollary:

    As a drawn-out online argument grows longer, the probability of someone picking up on typos or punctuation errors in order to score points approaches one.

[Dante]

Personally I would disagree that the person who brings up Hitler automatically loses the argument. It depends on their use of the subject, as well as their other points, etc.

[Megashrap]

I say whoever turns a normal modern day event topic into a WW-2 Nazi Germany, Hitler etc. For no other purpose than the fact they can't respond with valid debatable response to the main topic, (thus resorts to pulling hitler out of thier ass in hopes to cover up thier lack of knowledge on main topic) loses.

[Edric O]

Godwin's Law refers to "arguments" that go something like this:

Hitler wore a moustache.

Hitler was evil.

Therefore, anyone who wears a moustache is evil.

[Acriku]

So really, when someone mentions Hitler the argument isn't over. It's when someone concludes that someone is evil because Hitler did it as well.

[TMA_1]

yeah, it is pretty silly.

I was called a nazi, and a hitler lover because I disagree with the act of homosexuality. Assumptions are silly, and that is basically waht it is. You are making generalistic assumptions with no intelligent purpose.

It happens in Dune2k quite a lot.lol ;)

[Caid Ivik]

What is a widerspruch as well, as homosexuality was so common in SS, where they turned this type of "love" to a "higher form"...

[Anathema]

Homosexuality was common in the SA (sturmabteilung). A lot of them also had very socialist ideas. Hitler had their leader Rohm executed for this and the influence of SA declined, after wich the SS (schutzstaffel) became a prominent group in Germany.

[Dante]

I say whoever turns a normal modern day event topic into a WW-2 Nazi Germany, Hitler etc. For no other purpose than the fact they can't respond with valid debatable response to the main topic, (thus resorts to pulling hitler out of thier ass in hopes to cover up thier lack of knowledge on main topic) loses.

What about those who bring it up because they feel it is a valid comparison or historical note? Black and white, black and white...

[Acriku]

Maybe the law is meant to promote discussion about the subject alone, and not have non-sequitor (who knows how many other logical fallacies) claims ruin it. I think valid comparisons can be made between Hitler and whatever subject, but to conclude something from it by the fact that Hitler did it or had the same attribute is fallacious and should not happen.

[Edric O]

Homosexuality was common in the SA (sturmabteilung). A lot of them also had very socialist ideas. Hitler had their leader Rohm executed for this...

Actually, Hitler had all their leaders executed or imprisoned, during the Night of the Long Knives.

The SA had been very useful in Hitler's rise to power; but once he came to power, he had no further use for them (and not only that, but some rank-and-file SA members were getting rather angry with Hitler's policies - because they had socialist ideas, as you mentioned - and there was even some talk of overthrowing him).

[TMA_1]

I think Rohm himself was homosexual, and that is one of the cover-up reasons why he was taken out of command (killed).

[Egeides]

lol

Look what I've found... a complete discussion about the Israel-Palestine debate in London and Columbia universities. The debates now tend to go in insults, misquotes and so on. The author here wished to explain the situation and give solutions to make the academics' debate of a better quality:

Go see at how the text is concluded ;D

http://www.opendemocracy.org/debates/article-2-97-2265.jsp

[GUNWOUNDS]

Godwin's Law refers to "arguments" that go something like this:

Hitler wore a moustache.

Hitler was evil.

Therefore, anyone who wears a moustache is evil.

thats a bit too simplistic and unrealistic.

A better example would be....

Hitler waged war.

Hitler was Evil.

President Bush waged war.

President Bush is as evil as Hitler.

I think Godwin's law refers to such poor analogies as this.

[GUNWOUNDS]

lol

Look what I've found... a complete discussion about the Israel-Palestine debate in London and Columbia universities. The debates now tend to go in insults, misquotes and so on. The author here wished to explain the situation and give solutions to make the academics' debate of a better quality:

Go see at how the text is concluded ;D

http://www.opendemocracy.org/debates/article-2-97-2265.jsp

hah yea thats golden at the end there.

[nemafakei]

"Hitler wore a moustache.

Hitler was evil.

Therefore, anyone who wears a moustache is evil.

A better example would be....

Hitler waged war.

Hitler was Evil.

President Bush waged war.

President Bush is as evil as Hitler.

"

Why is the example any different (apart from truncating 'therefore')?

[Acriku]

It seems to be more relevant in the current times...

[GUNWOUNDS]

You will hear more people compare someone to Hitler due to war or hatred or racism than you will for a moustache or any other type of arbitrary physical attribute.

I felt edrico's example was misleading.

[Wolf]

To be honest, I think we've proven Godwin's Law in quite a few cases here on Fed2k. We should go through a lot of the older, more controversial threads and measure how long it took for one member to call another a Nazi, or for someone to invoke Hitlerian comparisons. I wonder what the average time of Nazistic invocation is...

Oh, and when they talked about "whoever invokes the Nazis or Hitler first loses the argument," I think they meant it in the sense that, "whoever invokes the Nazis or Hitler first deserves to lose the argument."