Godwin's law

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Comparisons to Adolf Hitler are an example of Godwin's law.

Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies)[1] is an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states: "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."[2][3]

Godwin's Law is often cited in online discussions as a deterrent against the use of arguments in the reductio ad Hitlerum form.

The rule does not make any statement about whether any particular reference or comparison to Adolf Hitler or the Nazis might be appropriate, but only asserts that one arising is increasingly probable. It is precisely because such a comparison or reference may sometimes be appropriate, Godwin has argued,[4] that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact. Although in one of its early forms Godwin's Law referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions,[5] the law is now applied to any threaded online discussion: electronic mailing lists, message boards, chat rooms, and more recently blog comment threads and wiki talk pages.

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[edit] Corollaries and usage

There are many corollaries to Godwin's law, some considered more canonical (by being adopted by Godwin himself)[2] than others invented later.[1] For example, there is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically "lost" whatever debate was in progress. This principle itself is frequently referred to as Godwin's Law. It is considered poor form to raise such a comparison arbitrarily with the motive of ending the thread. There is a widely recognized codicil that any such ulterior-motive invocation of Godwin's law will be unsuccessful (this is sometimes referred to as "Quirk's Exception").[6]

Godwin's Law applies especially to inappropriate, inordinate, or hyperbolic comparisons of other situations (or one's opponent) with Hitler or Nazis or their actions. Although the law in its original formulation is obviously true in discussions directly addressing genocide, propaganda, or other mainstays of the Nazi regime, its corollaries may not apply.[citation needed] Whether it applies to humorous use or references to oneself is open to interpretation, because although mentioning and trivializing Nazism in an online discussion, this would not be a fallacious attack against a debate opponent.

However, Godwin's Law itself can be abused, as a distraction or diversion, that fallaciously miscasts an opponent's argument as hyperbole, especially if the comparisons made by the argument are actually appropriate. A 2005 Reason magazine article argued that Godwin's Law is often misused to ridicule even valid comparisons.[7]

[edit] History

Godwin has stated that he introduced Godwin's Law in 1990 as an experiment in memetics.[3]

Linking by implication the fallacy of reductio ad Hitlerum to online discussion length had been done prior to 1990 by a poster named Richard Sexton in 1989: "You can tell when a USENET discussion is getting old when one of the participants drags out Hitler and the Nazis."[8] Godwin's Law does not, however, claim to articulate a fallacy; it is instead framed as a memetic tool to reduce the incidence of inappropriate hyperbolic comparisons. "Although deliberately framed as if it were a law of nature or of mathematics, its purpose has always been rhetorical and pedagogical: I wanted folks who glibly compared someone else to Hitler or to Nazis to think a bit harder about the Holocaust," Godwin has written. It has not been established whether Sexton's quip had any influence on Godwin's law, though Sexton continues, citing an apparent joke by Godwin, to claim Godwin borrowed the idea from Sexton and named it.[9]

[edit] Local variations

In Germany, a Nazometer is a mock measurement device suggested by German comedian Harald Schmidt (and causing a minor scandal).[10] The device allegedly screens spoken language and will give alarms even at minor Nazi-specific allegations as "Autobahn", "Eva", "Herman" or "Rammstein".

[edit] In popular culture

While Godwin's Law initially was best known in Usenet, it has clearly spread to other forms of online communication. In 2007, Slashdot noted that Godwin's Law affected an ongoing, highly public dispute between Linux founder Linus Torvalds and the GNOME project.[11] A May 2007 issue of Randall Munroe's webcomic xkcd anachronistically portrays Allied officers trying to discuss Axis military tactics, but being interrupted by Godwin's Law.[12] Similarly, a November 2007 issue of Jeph Jacques's webcomic Questionable Content, entitled "Godwin Wars", referenced (and contrasted) Godwin's law and the reductio ad Hitlerum.[13] In its October 2007 issue and on its website, Wired published a "Geekipedia" piece that includes an entry for "Godwin's law" among "people, place, ideas, and trends you need to know now".[14]

The concept appears to have entered the public consciousness more broadly, as well. In 2005, the aphorism was the subject of a question in the British television quiz show University Challenge.[15] By 2007, The Economist had declared that "a good rule in most discussions is that the first person to call the other a Nazi automatically loses the argument."[16] And in October 2007, the "Last Page" columnist in The Smithsonian stated that when an adversary uses an inappropriate Hitler or Nazi comparison, "you have only to say 'Godwin's Law' and a trapdoor falls open, plunging your rival into a pool of hungry crocodiles."[17]

On October 20, 2008, Rachel Maddow, on The Rachel Maddow Show, proposed a corollary to Godwin's law that as the time a liberal candidate is believed to be winning an election or argument increases, the probability that they will be labeled communist or socialist approaches one.[18] In a Christmas Day review of The Spirit, New York Times movie critic A.O. Scott suggested that "a similar axiom" to Godwin's Law, "applied to Hollywood, would stipulate that every movie star must eventually dress up in a German military uniform."[citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "How to post about Nazis and get away with it—the Godwin's Law FAQ". http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/legends/godwin/. Retrieved on 2006-05-07. [clarification needed]
  2. ^ a b Godwin, Mike (January 12, 1995). "Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies (and Corollaries)". EFF.org. Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Net Culture – Humor" archive section. http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/Folklore/Humor/godwins.law. Retrieved on 2006-03-24. 
  3. ^ a b Godwin, Mike (October 1, 2004). "Meme, Counter-meme". Wired. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/godwin.if.html. Retrieved on 2006-03-24. 
  4. ^ Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age
  5. ^ Godwin, Mike (August 18, 1991). "Re: Nazis (was Re: Card's Article on Homosexuality". rec.arts.sf-lovers. (Web link).
  6. ^ "Godwin's Law". The Jargon File (4.4.7). http://catb.org/esr/jargon/html/G/Godwins-Law.html. Retrieved on 2007-03-01. [clarification needed]
  7. ^ Weigel, David (July 14, 2005). "Hands Off Hitler!: It's time to repeal Godwin's law". Reason. http://www.reason.com/news/show/32944.html. Retrieved on 2006-03-24. [clarification needed]
  8. ^ Sexton, Richard (October 16, 1989). "Re: .aquaria (Tropical fish. Good enough for Hitler, why not you ?)". news.groups. (Web link).
  9. ^ Sexton, Richard (2007). "The Day I Met Mike Godwin". http://rs79.vrx.net/works/usenet/Godwin/story. Retrieved on 2007-12-19. [clarification needed]
  10. ^ 15. November 2007, STREIT UM SCHMIDT & POCHER Rettet das Nazometer! Henryk M. Broder, in Der Spiegel ("Conflict about Schmidt & Pocher: Save the Nazometer").
  11. ^ Zonk (February 17, 2007). "Godwin's law Invoked in Linus/Gnome Spat". written at Mountain View, CA. Slashdot.org. SourceForge, Inc. http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/17/0219225. 
  12. ^ Munroe, Randall (May 14, 2007). "Regarding Mussolini". xkcd: A Webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math, and Language. http://xkcd.com/c261.html. Retrieved on 2007-05-27. 
  13. ^ Jacques, Jeph (November 23, 2007). "Godwin Wars". Questionable Content. http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1020. Retrieved on 2007-11-23. 
  14. ^ "Godwin's Law". October 2007. http://www.wired.com/culture/geekipedia/magazine/geekipedia/godwins_law. 
  15. ^ University Challenge. Jeremy Paxman (presenter). Granada Television. BBC Two. 2005-12-12.
  16. ^ "The truth about eSStonia". The Economist. October 16, 2007. http://www.economist.com/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=9645274. 
  17. ^ Conniff, Richard (October 2007). "In the Name of the Law". Smithsonian (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution): "Arts & Culture" section. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/last-oct07.html. 
  18. ^ The Rachel Maddow Show. MSNBC. 2008-10-20. Transcript.

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