Talk:Godwin's law
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Godwin's law was featured in a WikiWorld cartoon: (click image to the right for full size version.) |
 |
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Internet culture, an attempt to better organise information in articles related to the Internet culture. For more information, visit the project page. |
| B | This article has been rated as B-class on the quality scale. |
| High | This article has been rated as High-importance on the importance scale. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
This page has been cited as a source by several media organizations. The citations are in:
|
 Archives |
Contents |
[edit] Godwin's law as a means of inflicting censorship
Godwin's law started as a joke that is nowadays used extensively to inflict censorship on the internet by intimidation. I ignore Godwin's law and I propose to do the same because if you are anti-censorship, then you'd be also in allowing people to bring up the nazi party. The phenomenon while it may sound trivial at first, took saddening proportions the last few years since it's almost impossible to discuss the middle east wars and the nazis at the same time. Censorship by popular culture intimidation should not be tolerated. Arguments, do you have them? Godwin's law is not one. I support the use of more sources that support the notion. --Leladax (talk) 11:29, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
- Godwin's law is in no way a form of censorship; it is simply a way to point out a logical fallacy. If, for example, you state that the number of elephants in Africa has doubled in the last six months, and I cite a factual source that contradicts your assertion, I am not censoring you. I am proving you wrong. You are, of course, welcome to keep arguing your opinion all you want, just like Stephen Colbert, who believes facts are elitist. Lovelac7 19:50, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
- I'm talking by definition of the times there's no logical fallacy. How can you answer like that when I didn't even use an example. There's no need of an example, I talked specifically of the times someone brings up the Nazi Party (e.g. now, as I did) and then someone else instead of answering with arguments, throws a "HAHAHA! Godwin's LAW!!111", and dismisses the whole discussion. --Leladax (talk) 22:58, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
the idea, I beleive, is that if someone has compared anyone or anything to hitler, the discussion has gotten well out of the realms of real argument. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Playwrite (talk • contribs) 14:47, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
That's ... the entire problem. Hitler may be a vile man, but this does not mean that (a) he was the vilest man that ever lived, (b) that people who are less vile can no longer be compared with him in aspects or degree, provided this is clarified.
Godwin's law is relevant because comparisons with Hitler are often badly thought out and thrown in a discussion merely to cast a bad light on someone. Godwin's law is not relevant when the comparison to Hitler is actually appropriate. The appropriateness of the situation, ofcourse, remains to be judged by the participants of the discussion. DDSaeger (talk) 01:21, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
- Godwins Law cannot be used to inflict censorship as it makes no statement on how to handle a Nazi analogy. It just says that the probability is increasing when the discussions grows longer. --JogyB (talk) 22:15, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
Godwins law is not used as a form of censorship. It is designed to highlight simply that the longer a discussion goes on, the higher the chances are of it "jumping the shark" and becoming completely unrelated towhat the discussion is about. I think somebody claiming it is a form of censorship is a pretty good example within itself. Ironholds (talk) 23:08, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] "Wealthy trial lawyer" in "In popular culture"
The final two lines of "In popular culture", about a wealthy trial lawyer, seems pretty irrelevant. The link doesn't mention Godwin's law; it's just an instance of a comparison being drawn to the Nazis. Ctourneur (talk) 23:14, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Variants
One version I came across added "or Stalin" with similar intent. Jackiespeel (talk) 16:09, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] In "Windows for Dummies"
In this book, there is a chapter on using Compuserve and other Internet things, and the author gives a list of rules for engaging in a discussion, and one of them is that any discussion ends once someone calls someone else Hitler or a Nazi or a Fascist. Since Godwin's Law was formulated in 1990, that book was circa 1993, and I don't think Windows 3.1 users bothered much with Usenet, it would quite notably indicate just how quickly the meme spread. 24.85.244.108 (talk) 19:53, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] slate
The article Leave Hitler Out of It - The craze for injecting the Nazis into political debate must end on slate.com by Anne Applebaum points out that the Nazi comparisons are ubiquitous (and usually not to the point), not only on usenet. I wonder if this is a good link for the article... Probably not, as Godwin is not explicitly mentioned. --Aleph4 (talk) 10:17, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
