Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Godwin's Law and Sinister's Corollary

Godwin's Law - "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1".

Sinister's Corollary to Godwin's Law - "if someone invokes Hitler or the Nazis as an analogy or comparison to anything other than (i) actual Nazis, or (ii) people committing genocide or ethnic cleansing, then I will cease to take seriously anything they say, even if I might otherwise believe it." This Corollary applies across the political spectrum, to the left, right, center, and anyone else. No one group has a monopoly on making ridiculous and stupid Nazi analogies. Here are a few examples of application of the Corollary:

Example A: This clown compares Republicans to Nazis. Even though I agree that Health Care reform should not be repealed, I can no longer take anything he says seriously.

Example B: Glenn Beck has compared so many people with whom he disagrees to the Nazis that Lewis Black cleverly said he has "Nazi Tourette's". So, with regard to Glenn Beck, I will paraphrase Chuck Lane talking about Stephen Glass, and say that if it was sunny outside and Glenn Beck and I were both standing outside in the sun and he came to me and said, ‘It’s a sunny day,’ I would immediately go check with two other people to make sure it was a sunny day, and then I'd go get an umbrella.