Godwin's Law states:
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As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.
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This was posted in Usenet by Mike Godwin in 1990. It has since generated several corollaries, amongst which is the idea that anyone who mentions the Nazis is wrong not only in mentioning the Nazis but also in whatever point he or she was trying to make. Many confused people have taken to calling this idea Godwin's law, though Godwin himself never mentioned losing or winning anything at the time. Here's a link to
Godwin himself explaining his "rule of Nazi Analogies".
Quirk's exception to Godwin's law states that attempts to invoke Godwin's law in order to suppress discussion of the Nazis, or to declare victory in a thread, will be unsuccessful.
Quirk is right, and that's a good thing. If any comparison to the Nazis was disallowed, the lessons that their existence gave to history would be lost. Godwin was rightly frustrated at the number of inappropriate and lazy Nazi comparisons on the Internet. And that is still a problem. Calling people Nazis in a debate is poor form, as is comparing things to the Nazis without reasonable grounds. But sometimes the brown shirt fits. Arguments involving the Nazis should be treated on their merits like any other.
An interesting article on this issue appeared in Reason magazine:
Hands Off Hitler! - It's time to repeal Godwin's Law.
And here's
Godwin again, posting this year on the anniversary of Hitler's death:
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I can't say I anticipated that Godwin's Law, which states that, "As an online discussion continues, the probability of a reference or comparison to Hitler or to Nazis approaches 1," would last this long or that it would propagate into popular culture to the extent that it has.
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September 22nd, 2008
Godwin's Law
Linear Mode
