Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: beyond the sea

Have you ever said one thing of interest? I have yet to see it. Just taking up space and trying to be profound.


221 posted on 04/03/2005 3:38:05 AM PDT by SoCar (Refugee from NJ)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 216 | View Replies ]


To: SoCar
Godwin's law (also Godwin's rule of Nazi analogies) is an adage in Internet culture that was originated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states that:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

There is a tradition in many Usenet newsgroups that once such a comparison is made, the thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. In addition, whoever points out that Godwin's law applies to the thread is also considered to have "lost" the battle, as it is considered poor form to invoke the law explicitly. Godwin's law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. Many people understand Godwin's law to mean this, although (as is clear from the statement of the law above) this is not the original formulation.

Nevertheless, there is also a widely-recognized codicil that any intentional invocation of Godwin's law for its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful. See "Quirk's exception" below.

You are correct about the inappropriateness of the Nazi images, and I commend you on your patience in dealing with this.

Thoughtful arguments that make apt, well-informed comparisons to Nazis might be useful. Shouting "Nazi" and posting pictures of Holocaust victims is not.

Yes, every slippery slope begins with a single flake. Every avalanche begins with a single flake, too. So I suppose I should yell "Avalanche!" if I see a single flake fall on the mountain. Except that I am helping no one by doing so and marginalize myself to boot. And once people start accepting stupid slippery slope arguments, who knows what kind of other arguments they'll buy down the road.

The Nazis currently hold the world record for the rock botton of human behavior. All evil can be analogized in some way to Nazi evil, because it was so all-encompassing, but one should avoid the temptation to shout "Nazi" at the first glimpse of evil. It is the equivalent of shouting "Avalanche" at the first flake. It means the speaker has no sense of scale or proportion.

It took 15 years of legal wrangling to kill Terri, with, believe it or not, serious consideration and review given to the arguments on both sides. The Nazis would have dispatched her in 15 seconds along with 4000 other people who looked vaguely like her and would have dumped them all in a pit.

What happened to Terri happened due to a loophole in the law. The law presumes that one spouse has the other's best interest in mind. The law went haywire when this underlying assumption in this case turned out not to be true. In this case, agitate to change the law or defeat judges like Greer who do come up for reelection or reconfirmation. You can do that in Florida. And that's another reason why Florida is not Nazi Germany.

277 posted on 04/03/2005 8:59:13 AM PDT by caspera
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 221 | View Replies ]

To: SoCar
Just taking up space and trying to be profound

I see your profoundly crude post is no longer "taking up space". LOL.

298 posted on 04/04/2005 1:04:15 AM PDT by beyond the sea (Advanced Directive -- don't step on my blue suede shoes.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 221 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson