I'm a writer living in Seattle (previously Philly). In case you’re not familiar with this great law, Godwin’s Law is a wonderful internet-age adage worth familiarizing yourself with. Invoke the comparison to the Nazi’s and you are just comparing your opponent to pure evil. The point of Godwins law is deeply serious as are your quotes. Airminded is the research blog of Dr Brett Holman, a historian from Melbourne, Australia. In this case, I suggests it is not one whose unambigious argumentative point is being supported by examples othar than those involving World War II references – Man on the Moon, etc.– but rather the other whose subliminal argument is based on the misapplication of a quote. Referencing Hitler or the Nazis makes you less credible and voids your argument. Rising. What I am saying is that in discussing opposition to Hitler, Cruz did not compare anyone to Hitler and he did not say that ObamaCare was Naziism. The day after reading about Niniane’s brush with Godwin’s Law ... For good measure, here’s an xkcd comic about Godwin’s Law. As the Wikipedia entry further explains: There are many corollaries to Godwin's law, some considered more canonical (by being adopted by Godwin … Surely his goal was the containment of German power in Europe, but without another catastrophic war. They were surely among the most noble and benevolent instincts of the human heart-the love of peace, the toil for peace, the strife for peace, the pursuit of peace, even at great peril, and certainly to the utter disdain of popularity or clamour. My friend Alan Reynolds has said well why Cruz’s strategy is probably a poor one. But there is rarely ever a good reason to use it, unless the analogy is truly appropriate. You know, not once in my entire time as a history student have I been given advice on how to deal with Godwin's Law. But what were these hopes in which he was disappointed? ("Regarding Mussolini" from xkcd.) There are likely thousands of analogies one could make about Nazis and Hitler, which, if taken literally, are not “offensive”. ”Don’t mention the War”. “Yes good call by David, Godwin’s Law is more fun than universal and there are times when mentioning World War II make perfect sense.”. Your second paragraph also seems to have nothing to do with what Cruz said. Good point. Obamacare is an extension of a principle “begun” by Otto von Bismarck. I think any Nazi comparison counts as Godwins law not just with a person. Hot. To me the the point of your post appears to be that Godwins law is being abused. prev post next post. Because 99% of the time on the internet, the online conversation would be more interesting and more informative without Nazis being involved. As every discussion grows longer the probability of every type of comparison gets closer to 1. You say something that no one can disagree with, e.g. If “Godwin’s Law” is supposed to be act as an admonition against bad faith in debate, as opposed to an observation of a peculiar likelihood in word usage, then Henderson’s Law is much better. That behavior by Chamberlain and Daladier, to give in to Hitler, made the German army re-think its hostility to him; that maybe Hitler wouldn’t be the disaster they feared after all. Let’s appease them. I do question Ted Cruz’s statement about Chamberlain, incidentally: Neville Chamberlain told the British people: Accept the Nazis. I think this is a clear example of academia failing to adapt to the new realities of the Internet age. You can interact with me direct via the Geekorium Matrix Room #the.geekorium:demands.coffee , on Github, on the Fediverse, or on Discord. For example, “Hitler loved his German Shepard Blondi, not unlike how the president loves his Portuguese Water dogs. We willingly sacrifice the 1% of well-done Nazi comparisons for that noble cause. No one. The Senator invoked giving up against the Nazis as an indirect comparison to giving up against Obamacare. In its October 2007 issue and … It’s beautiful viewing. Did he? Advanced features of this website require that you enable JavaScript in your browser. Your email address will not be published. It seems Godwin’s Law is better named Godwin’s Defence, the trump card to shut down any conversation pointing to parallels, in order to escape due critique. He certainly wasn’t proposing a hands-off “that is not our problem” policy in Europe! Thank you! Why? They would have gotten beyond the carrier pigeons and letters and they would have been on TV saying: You cannot defeat the Germans. Call it “Henderson’s Godwin’s Law.” It goes like this: When people in a political discussion want to put down other people who even mention Hitler, they will invoke Godwin’s Law even if the person compared no one to Nazis or Hitler. "My uninformed (but not uneducated) guess is that the original archive depended on a bespoke and probably very spaghetti environment, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, The Jarrow ‘bombardment’, 19 February 1938, Come friendly bombs and fall on Stonehenge, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Post-blogging the 1918 mystery aeroplanes. Of course, as we all know, someone did land on the moon and the German government was soundly defeated. Of course, the comparison Cruz was trying to make was with Neville Chamberlain, not Hitler. Basically a variant on the good old strawman or if you prefer the Chewbacca defense. Godwin’s Law states that as a discussion goes on the probability that someone will be compared to Hitler approaches one. This XKCD comic is where I first learned about Godwin's Law. Why, exactly? Or, “Brooklyn has become a home for many microbreweries, reminding one of some of the smaller “beer houses” in Nazi Germany”. Yes, they will dominate the continent of Europe, but that is not our problem. After he seeded Godwin's Law within various BBS threads, it caught on with ease, even morphing into different versions of the same basic idea, much like … In older internet forums its considered end of thread and the person who invoked the Nazis is seen to have lost the argument as they had to resort to the lowest comparison. Its not meant that way. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. The only Godwin’s Law exception that I’m aware of is the “XKCD Defense,” when you’re actually talking about history. Comments are closed. Or, “like most Nazis, Tea Party proponents love their mothers”. Perhaps the next generation’s Godwin’s Law will be Osama Bin Laden and 9/11 comparisons. A May 2007 issue of Randall Munroe‘s webcomic xkcd anachronistically portrays Allied officers trying to discuss Axis military tactics, but being interrupted by Godwin’s Law. I don’t know if there are awards given for rhetorical devices, but maybe Hitler and the Nazis should have accepted one for 2010. Seitz’s Law: crappy writers will name-check contemporary pseudo-Laws in an effort to seem not-clueless. Join. If I have missed the point then again I apologise. Because it can’t be done. card classic compact. Let’s appease them. Alexandra Petri: meet Henderson’s Godwin’s Law. Hot New Top Rising. card. back to top. Cruz said “someone” when he should of said “someone or something”. If giving up is okay then Nazis must be okay. Yes good call by David, Godwin’s Law is more fun than universal and there are times when mentioning World War II make perfect sense. Happy Cakeday, r/godwinslaw! A quote: “It fell to Neville Chamberlain in one of the supreme crises of the world to be contradicted by events, to be disappointed in his hopes, and to be deceived and cheated by a wicked man. Most people simply think Godwin’s law means something like: “Referencing Hitler or the Nazis makes you less credible and voids your argument.”. I’m not defending Cruz’s strategy. Godwin's law (or Godwin's rule of Nazi analogies) is an Internet adage asserting that "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazism or Hitlerapproaches 1"— that is, if an online discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something to Hitler or Nazism. The Nazis are the best thing that ever happened to Hollywood action movies, but they were a pox on American political conversation in 2010. My writing has appeared in The Onion, Fangraphs (once), Philadelphia City Paper, and locally wherever fine IP addresses are served. I love that message boards have been around long enough to generate such hilarious and depressing observations on human behavior and discourse. Let's look back at some memorable moments and interesting insights from last year. If you read blogs much, you’ve probably come across Godwin’s Law. Enter your email address to subscribe to our monthly newsletter: Economic Philosophy, Politics and Economics, http://www.speaking-tips.com/Eulogies/Neville-Chamberlain-Eulogy.aspx. I’ve long felt that the Daily Show’s ability to find obscure video clips containing very specific details or references is just short of magical. Thanks for the quote. Your email address will not be published. LAME. Curiously we are always being reminded that in order not to repeat the same mistakes, we must always remember the war and the hideous NAZI regime and learn lessons from it, but then we are chastised when we do. Top. It’s a lot more destructive of discussion than the occassional use of Nazis when making a point. Hell, it is magical. I'm trying to work out how the fuselage was loaded on to that small cart! Franco was everyone's first thought when it came to bombers. Its just name calling. We should only invoke that comparison when it is really relevant otherwise it become white noise. Yes, they will dominate the continent of Europe, but that is not our problem. Do you feel the same sense of fun when the left use the “Think of the Children” argument to make a comparison? Required fields are marked *, interested in or enthusiastic for the use and development of aircraft (Oxford English Dictionary). You know, not once in my entire time as a history student have I been given advice on how to deal with Godwin's Law. He was the only one actually doing it at the, There's an English Heritage report about the Stonehenge airfield if you are interested: https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=15239. The only Godwin’s Law exception that I’m aware of is the “XKCD Defense,” when you’re actually talking about history. Culberson later told reporters he was alluding to the cry of United 93 passenger Todd Beamer. Whatever else history may or may not say about these terrible, tremendous years, we can be sure that Neville Chamberlain acted with perfect sincerity according to his lights and strove to the utmost of his capacity and authority, which were powerful, to save the world from the awful, devastating struggle in which we are now engaged.”
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