Saturday, March 04, 2006

Godwin's Law

Godwin's Law: “As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress.

Evidence that Godwin's law applies to blog comments (this is part of a blog-versation I had with a neocon blogger who shall remain nameless; I had responded to his gripe that blacks want to re-populate New Orleans):

A lot of New Orleans residents fully intend to make it a vanilla city. A concerted effort to reintroduce as much chocolate as possible might balance things out in the end.
By SME, at 8:44

The very concept of artificially imposing some kind of "balance" is the reason that racism continues in the world to this day. Live and let live. Don't try to racially engineer our cities. Who are you or [omitted] or anyone else to determine what constitutes "balance?"
By ---, at 10:56

All I know is this: Neither side is going to back down. So let 'em have at it. It's their city, not mine.
By SME, at 8:12

By following your train of thought, I guess Munich and Berlin were Hitler's cities, too. So it was his prerogative to racially engineer his country, I suppose.
By ---, at 12:32

That didn't take long, did it? Guess the laws of nature always apply. The discussion continued a bit beyond this point, and --- did at one point concede that I might not be a genocidal maniac, but I think we both wasted our time.



Posted by at

6 comments:

The Zombieslayer said...

Oh no! The H*tl*r comparison. Weird to get it from a Right-winger. I always got it from the Left. From the Right, they always said the S-word (s*cial*st).

Yup, once Hitler or Nazis are mentioned, the argument is officially dead.

2:07 PM
The Zombieslayer said...

Oh, by the way, I went to New Orleans once. Got a speeding ticket and didn't see any boobs. Other than that, it was cool.

I just hope they're able to revive the city. Hate to see a city that the fun police haven't ruined yet die.

2:09 PM
S.M. Elliott said...

I hope they can put most of it together again, too. (With better levees!) I'd love to see the city - but not during Mardi Gras. Don't need to see any boobs, thanks. ;D

2:21 PM
tshsmom said...

Good law!
The one's I avoid are the POSTS that start out by calling the opposition Nazis and Fascists. Like ZS said, they're usually the FAR left.

5:42 PM
greatwhitebear said...

There has been a concerted effort in NO, propegated by mowtly wealthy white businessmen, to make it difficult for blacks to return. No doubt this guy approves. Even though this would seem counter intuitive at first, since these businessmen would seem to need cheap black labor for the hotels and clubs they run.

However, before the hurricane New Orleans was over 60% black, which means blacks held political power. Now, NO is almost lilly white, and very shorly these well to do white businessmen will hold political power. And they have discovered they can replace cheap black labor with even cheaper Mexican labor.

I firmly believe that if New Orleans is to remain the unique city that it is, or was before Katrina, a concerted effort needs to be made toentice as many of it's residents back as possible. Otherwise, those great New Orleans traditions that have been handed down from generation to generation for a couple of centuries will surely die, and the Big Easy will become just another boring southren city.

2:14 PM
S.M. Elliott said...

I didn't even think about this problem until Gennifer Flowers's husband started bragging that N.O. would be lily white from now on, since only the "bad areas" were washed out. I thought, Oh terrific, so it'll be just dumb bastards like you, then? Screw that. If the city's going to be rebuilt, it needs to be re-populated by the people who made it great. And I'm pretty sure Gennifer Flowers isn't in that bunch.

4:35 PM

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