This article could serve as a perfect example of a boatload of bad advice.
Well, it’s not any dumber than Godwin’s Law.
From a WIRED interview w/the creator of Godwin's Law, Mike Godwin:
I seeded Godwin's Law in any newsgroup or topic where I saw a gratuitous Nazi reference. Soon, to my surprise, other people were citing it - the counter-meme was reproducing on its own! And it mutated like a meme, generating corollaries.......In time, discussions in the seeded newsgroups and discussions seemed to show a lower incidence of the Nazi-comparison meme. And the counter-meme [that the longer a discussion goes, the more likely a Hitler/Nazi comparison will be made] mutated into even more useful forms.
The origin of Irving's Law:
I am increasingly of the opinion that religious debate needs some kind of corollary to Godwin's Law. Here's my idea - once a comparison is made between the 1st century Pharisees and someone's theology, the discussion is immediately finished - and whoever makes the comparison automatically "loses" whatever debate was in progress, forfeiting all points previously scored.And since I'm "inventing" this new rule here, I get to name it. And thus, I dub this new rule the "Irving Law".
Note to self: No rule that says you can’t call folks heretics who espouse heresy.