Sunday, May 7, 2017

Where Godwin's Law does not work

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1" The unstated premise is: this is a bad thing.

The flaw in Godwin's Law is that there really are nazis. If you are not a nazi and tend to avoid places where nazis congregate, it can be too easy to forget that.

I had not visited Wonkette.com lately so had missed Dok Zoom's curious post on April 11, "Oh Look, Nazi Flat Earthers. Aren’t You Surprised??"

Well, yes, I was; and yet I wasn't, due to the phenomenon of crank magnetism. Anyway, Dok linked to a site called We Hunted the Mammoth.com, which looks to be worth bookmarking.

A little bit of this goes a long way, but it is worth reminding yourself from time to time that there are people out there like that, and that they probably look harmless.

 


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