If you aren't among one of the two sides it can be humorous to watch at times.
If you aren't among one of the two sides it can be humorous to watch at times.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/08...
"It’s Time to Call Nazis ‘Nazis’"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/its-time-to-call-nazis-nazis
Chap behind Godwin's law suspends his own rule for Charlottesville fascists: 'By all means, compare them to Nazis'
https://www.theregister.com/2017/08/14/godwins_law_creator_r...
And there's the law itself. Mike Godwin takes pains to clarify that it's not about valid or invalid comparison, or who's "winning" or "losing" the discussion, as it is an observation that productive discussion within the thread is over.
Specifically:
So - *WHAT DOES IT MEAN*?
Fine, fine - it means that somebody's eventually going to say
something about the Nazis in any thread that lasts very long. When it
happens, the thread is going to start either degenerating into a long
flamewar over Nazi Germany or about Godwin's Law. Either way, the thread
is effectively over, and you can safely killfile the thread and move on.
... 2. What happens if we're actually talking about Nazis?
Then you've already invoked Godwin's Law, and the chances are that
your thread isn't going to last all that much longer as a sane discussion.
Them's the breaks.
3. What about arguing with Neo-Nazis?
Arguing with Neo-Nazis is probably the quickest path to getting
Nazi invocations, because, well, they're actually accurate. Still, trying
to invoke Godwin's Law near a Neo-Nazi isn't really a good idea because
it's not terribly original and they'll probably get off on it anyway.
Just ignore them and occasionally publish a FAQ detailing what actually
happened during the Holocaust and such; arguing probably isn't going to
help you.
http://wiki.killfile.org/projects/usenet/faqs/godwin/This thread has reached the discussion-of-Godwin's-law stage, so there's that.
And remember that "it can't happen here" is also a fallacy.